Boston Police arrest murder suspect Dequann Whyte-Cohen in the midst of weekend violence
BOSTON - It was a busy weekend for Boston Police, who arrested a murder suspect Sunday. Dequann Whyte-Cohen covered his face with his sweatshirt as he faced a judge in court. He's accused of shooting Dante Webb to death in Jamaica Plain on July 18.
"He attempted to flee the scene when police arrested him," said Assistant District Attorney Nathan McGregor. "He did injure one officer who was attempting to detain him."
The courtroom was packed with Webb's friends and family who woke up Monday to the news that the arrest happened on the same day two others were killed in separate shootings in Roxbury, one on Blue Hill Avenue and another on Weldon and Quincy Streets. Then within a half hour, the violence continued in Dorchester, where there was a shooting on Draper Street and multiple stabbings on Charles Street Sunday.
"I don't think I even felt anything because I'm still numb from my brother," said Webb's sister Rosalyn Webb. "So I'm just numb, and I don't know how to explain it right now because he was the baby."
Defense attorney Ryan Sullivan says police may have gotten the wrong man. "There's information that there was a car that was allegedly involved, but from what I'm seeing and what I'm being told, there's just nothing demonstrating that it was my client who was in the car."
Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden visited a program aiming to keep kids away from street violence in Worcester on Monday, but it was Boston's violent weekend that had him talking. "Illegal guns are having too much of an impact on the streets of our city," he said. "We've got to do something about it, and I won't rest until it's done."