Teen in police clash shot self, DA says

The 19-year-old who was shot and killed in an exchange of gunfire with police in Dorchester Saturday night put his own gun to his head and fired, the Suffolk district attorney said yesterday, a determination police officials hope will settle anxiety among the area’s Cape Verdean community over the use of deadly force.

District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said yesterday that a preliminary investigation shows that Manuel “Junior’’ DaVeiga had exchanged gunfire with officers and a state trooper assigned to the Youth Violence Strike Force and that at one point he “reloaded his weapon, put the gun to his head, and shot himself.’’

Conley said police recovered DaVeiga’s .45-caliber firearm where he fell. The Cape Verdean teenager also suffered gunshot wounds to his hand, hip, and chest.

Conley said that an investigation into the shooting will continue and that officials will determine whether protocol was followed. State Police will conduct their own investigation because a trooper was involved.

“The investigation into DaVeiga’s death began Saturday night, continues today, and will proceed through the days and weeks to come,’’ Conley said.

The medical examiner has not yet ruled on a cause of death, according to Jake Wark, a spokesman for Conley.

The district attorney made his preliminary determination just as Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis met with members of the Cape Verdean community at police headquarters in Roxbury yesterday to explain what investigators determined in hopes of quelling unease and to call for a renewed partnership against the street violence that has rattled the community and led to Saturday’s shooting.

“The concerns are wider than the shooting; the concerns are about gang activity,’’ the commissioner said. “The Cape Verdean community is very aware, very cognizant of what’s happening. There are a lot of good people in the community who want to help us in stopping this.’’

The shooting occurred just after 9:30 Saturday. Police said members of the department’s Youth Violence Strike Force, along with the state trooper, went to the Navillus Street neighborhood in Dorchester to question residents as part of an investigation into a recent spike in violence.

The Globe has reported that police suspected DaVeiga had a role in much of that violence. At the time of the shooting, he had been visiting a makeshift memorial for a friend who was shot to death last month in Roxbury.

But when he saw police officials, he allegedly fled. He then turned and fired at the officers, who shot back, police said.

Davis said yesterday’s meeting with community members was organized by Deputy Superintendent William Gross, who supervises the district, and Deputy Superintendent Gary French, who oversees the strike force, to reach out to a community anxious over the use of force.

The meeting also included members of the Boston Public Health Commission, as part of the city’s Violence Intervention and Prevention initiative. A representative from St. Peter’s Church on Bowdoin Street was also involved.

Davis said the discussion was to focus on the root cause of violence that brought officers to the neighborhood in the first place. He said that only a fraction of the greater community is responsible for the violence plaguing city streets, and so those at the meeting discussed ways to reach out to families and to youth with jobs and summer programs.

Paulo DeBarros, president of Cape Verdean Community UNIDO, a community group, attended yesterday’s meeting and is working to organize another involving representatives from different social service providers, to develop an action plan to reach out to people in the neighborhood.

John Barros, head of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative and a member of the Cape Verdean community, said yesterday’s meeting was initially to call for transparency in the investigation into Saturday’s shooting. But the next step will be to determine how to avoid such situations in the future, he said.

“We outlined a number of steps on how to continue to work together to make sure the relationship between the community is not severed or worsened,’’ he said.

He said that the Cape Verdean community had developed a partnership with police over the past several years and that community leaders and police will need to reach out to the larger community to build confidence again.

“It’s a lose-lose for everyone, the police, the community, everyone, to have what happened Saturday,’’ he said. “So we want to make sure it never happens again.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/06/teen_in_police_clash_shot_self_da_says/

By Milton J. Valencia
Globe Staff / April 6, 2010

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