A LOCAL MURDER SUSPECT IS APPREHENDED IN FLORIDA! BUT THAT IS JUST PART OF AN OTHERWISE BAD STORY

Here’s the barebones information provided in the official press release:

October 4, 2023, at 5:48 p.m.

“Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Waltham Police Chief Kevin O’Connell have announced that Josh Pierre, 21, of Waltham, has been located in Florida and placed under arrest in connection with the Murder of Shelson Jules,22, that occurred in May of this year.

At around 1:30 a.m. on May 22, 2023, on Lyman Street, in the vicinity of Faneuil Road in Waltham, the suspect fired two shots, striking the victim twice from behind, before fleeing the scene.”

Here’s a picture of the suspect, Josh Pierre.

According to the press release, Pierre was arrested in Miramar, Florida on September 22, with the assistance of the Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section and the United States Marshall Task Force.

Since the investigation is underway, we are unlikely to know more about this case anytime soon. But there is more to the story that should be of interest to those of us who are concerned about public safety and the qualifications we desire in the next Chief of the Watertown Police Department.

So, let’s go a bit deeper.

This was not a random murder. And unlike the recent murders in the Nonantum neighborhood of Newton, this was not the act of a deranged individual. While the facts are sketchy, there is enough to suggest that this murder was cold and calculated.

Pierre was a known drug dealer and was under investigation by the Southern Middlesex County Regional Drug Task Force well before he became a suspect in the murder.

He was arrested on May 5, for what Waltham District Court records refer to as “an ongoing situation occurring in the Waltham Public Schools, especially the middle schools.”

Pierre was selling to students, as young as 14, cannabis and THC vape pens that provide them with the ability to get high in public areas with much less chance of getting caught. Smoking joints or pipes emit smoke and distinct marijuana odors, which the pens do not. And vape pens are easier to conceal. Some are made to conveniently fit in the palm of the hand.

Should that sound an alarm for Watertown Middle School and High School parents?

Task force members believe that Pierre had a marketing reach beyond the Waltham city limits, provided to him by the social media platform Snapchat, where teens and drug traffickers share a coded language understood by few adults.

While surveilling Pierre, police observed a drug deal taking place and pulled over a vehicle, where Pierre and a 14-year-old middle school eighth grader were found possessing drugs and paraphernalia. Pierre was arrested on the scene and charged with drug trafficking.

He was arraigned on May 8 – 14 days before the murder − and released on $500 bail.

And the story gets worse from here, especially for parents of school-age children.

 In the vehicle, along with Pierre and the 14-year-old, were two other individuals. One of them, Nyaja Gilchrist, was arrested and charged with multiple drug offenses, including “possession of pressed fentanyl pills with intent to distribute.”

Again, I ask: Should parents of Watertown students be alarmed? Of course, this is more of a statement than a question.

A fourth individual in the vehicle, Waltham resident, Strawensky Cebeat, 21, was later arrested in connection with the murder and charged with being an accessory after the fact and withholding evidence.

All information on Nyaja Gilchrist and Strawensky Cebeat has since been impounded by Waltham District Court and is unavailable to members of the public, which sadly includes me.

There is one more “character” in this story but it’s not a person. It’s a place.

In the 1970s, I lived in a small apartment complex around the corner from Gardencrest Apartments. Occasionally, frustrated apartment hunters would show up at our doors when they found that there was no availability at Gardencrest, which had a reputation as the preferred Waltham residence for both singles and families. The property was well maintained and the rent was considered affordable.

On several occasions, I visited residents, who described Gardencrest as a “happy place to live.”

But that was then.

As part of their investigation involving the Waltham School District, the task force staked out Gardencrest, where at least two of Pierre’s 14-year-old customers live, and observed numerous suspected drug deals that involved Pierre. Since the records are sealed, we do not know if they also involved suspected fentanyl trafficker, Nyaja Gilchrist.

In dozens of police affidavits that I’ve had the opportunity to read, police officers describe just how difficult it is to catch a drug transaction in progress. They happen quickly and mostly out of sight.

But, residents of Gardencrest had to be aware of suspicious activity in their community. We can only wonder how much that activity impacted this community’s quality of life.

We don’t know exactly what took place at the murder scene on Lyman Street, other than the fact that two bullets were fired into Shelson Jules, from behind. Ana Rivas, who lives on Lyman Street told reporters that, “she's counting her blessings” after one of the bullets shattered part of her bedroom window where she was asleep with her grandchild, and added that “it could've hit her head had it entered at a higher angle.”

Other stray bullets damaged nearby vehicles. One area resident said that she thought she heard about eight gunshots fired “one right after the other."

This happened less than two miles from Watertown, where we are now in the process of hiring our next police chief.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, there is a highly vocal and influential group of residents who are lobbying Manager Proakis to select a candidate with a social work philosophy, and matching credentials, to serve as Watertown’s next Top Cop rather than the no-nonsense, street-savvy realist that his officers and the public deserve.

Who can blame them? Watertown has been so remarkably free of major crimes, that it’s easy to believe that bad guys respect our borders and will never be a Watertown problem. And so I will keep repeating the warning that we live in a fool’s paradise.

At least we do for now.

 

Bruce Coltin, The Battle for Watertown