16-Year-Old Charged With Murder In Dorchester Teen Stabbing
DORCHESTER (CBS) – There were tears in the eyes of those who knew and loved 15-year-old Dion Hopkins Monday.
They listened to a prosecutor in Dorchester Municipal Court describe how the teen was stabbed to death Sunday afternoon, allegedly by another teenager, 16-year-old Amari Pope.
Pope pleaded not guilty, but was ordered held without bail after his arraignment on a murder charge.
It all started when Pope's girlfriend had an argument with Hopkins near Pope's home on Columbia Road around 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
Prosecutor Greg Henning said Pope went into the apartment, grabbed a kitchen knife, came back and stabbed Hopkins in the heart.
Hopkins ran away but collapsed across the street in front of a store.
Henning said Pope followed Hopkins, stood over his body, "circling him" while holding the knife. Prosecutors said Pope then left the area and changed clothing.
The prosecutor said Pope later admitted to a family member, "I did something really stupid," and "I think I killed someone."
"The evidence gathered since Sunday afternoon suggests this was a verbal altercation that didn't have to escalate to violence," Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said in a statement. "It's made all the more tragic by the fact that the victim was just five weeks shy of his 16th birthday."
Hopkins was a month shy of his sixteenth birthday. "It's two kids, two families destroyed," Hopkins' aunt said outside of court. "They need to stop the killing. Stop the damn killing, it's sad."
Hopkins' uncle, Charles Skinner, is looking forward to forgiveness and healing.
"God controls everything, that's where I stand," Skinner said. "Him and God got to deal with it, him and God. He's got to repent."
Pope's aunt said her nephew is remorseful and is not a monster.
"He's a child with behavioral issues, but he's a good kid overall with a good heart," she told WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens. "It's a terrible situation."
Pope has prior arrests, ranging from gun charges to assault and battery.
He is due back in court March 30.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports
