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Blue Hill Avenue victim IDed; teen arrested in connection with her shooting

Dawnn Jaffier

UPDATE, Monday: Dorchester teen charged with shooting her in the head.

Dawnn Jaffier, 26, a 2010 graduate of UMass Amherst, died today when she was shot in the head during the J'Ouvert parade on Blue Hill Avenue.

Keith Williams, 18, was one of three people detained by police not long after she was shot around 8:15 a.m. He was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition, police say. Police did not say whether the other two men would be charged.

Jaffier was a coach at the Boys & Girls Club's Hennigan Club in Jamaica Plain, whose members and parents took to social media to mourn her loss as word spread. During the school year, she was a youth interventionist at the Hennigan School.

She was also a program assistant at the West End House in Brighton - where she was a member as a girl and teen.

She also spent a year as a City Year volunteer.

Anyone with information can contact homicide detectives at 617-343-4470. or the anonymous tip line by calling 800-494-TIPS or by texting TIP to CRIME (27463).

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Comments

Prayers for her family and friends

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What will that accomplish? Give everyone a warm and fuzzy? If god is the cause of all things then it stands to reason that god causes tragedies as well. Awesome...

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If they wrote that their "sympathies" or "thoughts" went out to the family would you have jumped on your soapbox? It's called empathy, given the way you attack this person who feels bad about what happened rather than focusing on the tragedy in the story that seems to be a quality you lack. My guess is that you are just a dick who happens to be an atheist.

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Prayers intended as sympathy to her loved ones and not offered as a solution to the insanity of this gun society where a young woman is killed at 8 in the morning. Hopefully you are as outraged at the appalling violence that occurred as you are at my expression of sympathy to her suffering family.

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This family needs help, and yes prayers right now.

The poor woman, who was an asset to the city, is dead senselessly. You might not think prayers will help, but I'd be willing to bet the family would like to know that they are in the city's prayers.

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Whoa satan, calm down!

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Actually praying is the best way to overcome grief and sadness. Jehovah God isn't the cause of worldly problems Satan is ruling the world, and if you actually read the bible you will understand it. Jehovah God gives you his Holy Spirit when you pray and call upon him. One day Jehovah will have Jesus and the angels come down and wipe all that's bad that includes Satan and the demons and we will live on a paradise earth as we where suppose to before Adam and Eve committed sin. Believe as he is the creator of all living this and all that's beautiful. Life is a gift and I will pray for her family

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I don't really care what people believe as long as the person who did this horrible act ends up in Hell of some sort, preferably in this life and the next.

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While prayer may not itself cure the sick or relieve the grief of the bereft, praying opens one's heart and mind to the idea of offering emotional and material aid to the suffering.

Personally, I am not religious but I very much appreciate it when someone who is, says that he or she is going to remember me in their prayers.

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What's it going to take to stop this madness? How do we catalyze cultural change in inner cities?

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Sometimes I wonder if it is possible at all.. it's been going on for decades now.

Sad world we live in

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young woman deserves justice and the outrage of an entire city at this senseless act of violence. RIP.

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Dawnn Jaffier was an accomplished, terrific young lady. How tragic that she was taken from her family, friends and our community so early.

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Dear anons,

If you want to discuss the tragic loss of somebody who seems to have been a wonderful person, by all means, please do.

Otherwise, please just go to wherever it is you'll find like-minded people with whom to get angry about the things you were already angry about two days ago.

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watching her father speak to the media saw unimaginable heartbreak. Thanks for kicking the soapbox out from under the heartless.

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If you know anything about this shooting, please call the police. We can't make our neighborhoods better without your help. We can't make our city OUR city without your help.

I did grand jury duty about 10 years ago, and it was so frustrating knowing that we could get perpetrators off the streets and make kids safer if only one or two people would talk to us. I took my duty very seriously, I'm sure the vast majority of Grand Jurors, do. Please let them. It is your business if you live in Boston.

Yes, I live in a neighborhood where this typically doesn't happen. That doesn't mean that I don't grieve for Dawnn or appreciate what the loss of her means.

Deepest sympathies to her her family. And the families of all murder victims.

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What neighborhood do you live in? I want to move there! Last time I checked, there is GUNS AND VIOLENCE in every neighborhood. It might not be as prevalent as other neighborhoods, but it does happen everywhere!!!

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Look, I am the first one to defend areas when people talk about them being bad, but there are definitely neighborhoods, or parts of neighborhoods, in Boston where shooting is more prevalent. Just look at Adam's map of murders in Boston. Charlestown, Allston, and Brighton have no murders. West Roxbury, and Hyde Park have 1 murder each, with Roslindale clocking in with 2 murders. That means the lower 3 neighborhoods of Boston, with a population of about 90,000, have had 4 murders total. This compares with 7 murders in the other southerly neighborhood of Mattapan, population 22,000.

I'm not going to say that any part of Boston is horrible to live in, or that trouble might not follow you to the "quiet" parts of Boston (or anywhere), but yeah, there are parts of Boston that are safer than others.

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I was at J'Ouvert from about 6:30 to 8:30 this morning, mostly in the 4 or 5 blocks of Blue Hill Ave going north from Morton Street. Not only did I not hear any shooting, nobody around me seemed to have heard about it either, as everyone was dancing and celebrating.

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Charlotte Street is pretty far from Morton St. It is closer to Columbia Road.

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This is heartbreaking news. Her brother was a classmate of my daughter's many years ago and she remembers him fondly. Wishing all strength and peace to Dawnn's family and friends.

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Yesterday she completed another summer with us at the West End House. she was excited to return to her work at the Hennigan and we talked about her plans to pursue full-time work in the field. Her future looked bright.

it is impossible to imagine a world without Dawnn. We smile as we think of the many lives she has touched in her short time on earth and we mourn for the people who will miss this opportunity.

Complete statement.

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Dawnn Jaffier served in two of our schools - the Tobin K-8 and the Hennigan - as a community partner. We are mourning her loss tonight.

Our students called her 'Coach Dawnn.' She was a BPS graduate who returned to our schools as a partner to motivate and mentor children. They looked up to her, and so did we. Dawnn was a loving, generous young woman who made it her mission to improve the lives of others.

We send our condolences to her family, and even as we mourn, we are grateful for her life.

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As all should be.

We don't get these kinds of lives often enough and when they are taken this way it cuts to the core.

May this musical euloggy, Alabama, from John Coltrane comfort those who are awash in a sense of loss.

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What an amazing woman. What a loss to the kids at Hennigan as well as her friends and family.

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These guns are coming from somewhere and these kids who are shooting each other (most of the crime here is black on black - usually young black men killing/shooting other young black men) must have absolutely no hope for the future to ruin their and other people's lives like this.
While prayers are helpful it doesn't seem to be helping this problem.
Very sorry for the family and the tremendous loss that they have suffered.

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Same place and people as illegal drugs. Gangs protect the product and sales territory as part of distribution networks. The owners and investors of those networks make sure their employees or contractors are equipped for the job.

I have a bad feeling this was part of a gang initiation or retaliation for the social work this woman did. In which case other innocent people are in grave danger.

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You are overthinking things. Are innocent people at risk? Yes. Just like innocent citizens who walk into a bank and fail to realize there is a small remote chance of being stuck in a heist/hostage situation. This is a case of gang members going to a festival, armed because they know they have enemies and feel the need for protection/revenge. These individuals are heavily intoxicated and aren’t usually the best at using firearms anyways. Just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time but I don’t think you should fear for your life if you are hardworking citizen. Life is a gamble anyways. Just live your life, do well and pray that maybe at some point the unnecessary violence will end. Until then we pray for her and her loved ones.

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I knew the family and her parents so proud of their children. I still can't believe it. Her mom and I always swapped stories on our children. My kids use to go to afterschool west end boys and girls club. Im in shock.she was an exceptional girl. My kids use to look up to Dawn as she became their afterschool counselor. May God give her family the strength and may Boston give them justice.

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And all her loved ones. May she rest in peace.

Try to take solace in how meaningful her life was.

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In case anyone is so inclined, there is a fund to raise money for her funeral costs.

Such extreme heartbreak, it's just not comprehensible.

http://www.gofundme.com/dgmyms

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The entire City Year community mourns the tragic passing of Dawnn Jaffier. Dawnn was a cherished member of the 2010-11 City Year Boston corps serving in the Maurice J. Tobin School. Dawnn loved working with children, and they loved her. We are heartbroken at her loss but inspired by her life. Her dedication as a City Year AmeriCorps member to improve the lives of the students she served so passionately will always be a source of inspiration to all of us. Next week, the 2014-2015 City Year Boston corps begins service for a new school year in the Boston Public Schools. We dedicate their year of service to the children of Boston to the memory and enduring legacy of Dawnn Jaffier. Our thoughts, prayers and deepest condolences are with Dawnn's family.

Complete statement.

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