DA: Armed career criminal out on bail robs and shoots Mattapan resident while carrying cocaine in his pocket

A Dorchester man with a criminal record stretching across eight pages was arraigned yesterday on charges he held up a man inside a Blue Hill Avenue apartment, then shot the victim before fleeing - right into the arms of police, who had arrived to investigate a motorist's report of gunfire, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

Dorchester District Court Judge Kenneth Desmond set Christopher Freeman's bail at $100,000 - prosecutors had asked for $250,000 - on charges of home invasion, armed robbery, armed assault with intent to murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, trafficking in cocaine, and three counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. However, Desmond agreed with prosecutors to revoke Freeman's bail on an outstanding larceny charge in Ayer.

Because of his status as an armed career criminal, Freeman could get at least 15 years in prison if convicted, the DA's office reports.

According to prosecutors, Freeman, 42, robbed a 24-year-old resident of 1443 Blue Hill Ave. around 9 p.m., Friday, then shot him in the arm. Police arrived in time to see Freeman walking out of an alcove in the rear of the building:

They ordered him to raise his hands. The man uttered an expletive and complied.

"I didn't shoot no one," Freeman allegedly said, unbidden.

The officers handcuffed and frisked Freeman. In his pockets, they recovered two large wristwatches, a bag that contained more than 14 grams of cocaine, about $2692 in cash, and a cell phone.

A short distance away, in the area of the alcove Freeman had been leaving, officers recovered three handguns: a Beretta semiautomatic loaded with three rounds, a Casco semiautomatic loaded with six rounds, and an empty Titanic revolver.

According to the DA's office, the money belonged to the victim. When detectives interviewed the victim at Boston Medical Center, they asked him for his cell-phone number. One dialed it - and the phone seized from Freeman began ringing at the Blue Hill Avenue location.

Innocent, etc.