Crime
The shooting, which happened near the festival’s J’ouvert Parade, took place early in the morning and injured eight people.
Gerald Vick is arraigned after the J’ouvert parade shooting in August 2023. David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe
A Dorchester man involved in a 2023 shooting near a Boston Caribbean festival parade that injured eight people was found guilty on several firearm-related charges across two trials, prosecutors said.
Gerald Vick, 33, was convicted by a jury April 22 of carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, and possession of a large capacity feeding device. A second jury convicted him Wednesday on one count of possession of a machine gun, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
“This was a brazen, unconscionable act of violence made all the worse by being committed in the middle of one of our city’s proudest cultural events, attended by thousands,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said in the statement. “I’m grateful for the time and care these jurors took in reviewing all the evidence and testimony before reaching their decision to hold Gerald Vick accountable for his reckless actions.”
Vick will appear again Thursday in Suffolk County Superior Court for the habitual offender portion of his trial, according to the DA’s office. The April 22 conviction marks Vick’s second offense of carrying a firearm without a license.
The night before his initial scheduled trial in December 2024, Vick removed his GPS ankle monitor and fled. He was located and apprehended six months later in Georgia.
The shooting took place early in the morning of Aug. 26, 2023 near the festival’s J’ouvert Parade in Dorchester. Two groups of men had congregated on opposite sides of Talbot Avenue in what appeared to be a tense interaction.
When Boston police officers approached the groups, shots rang out. Eight people were shot, including six men and two women, but none of them were killed.
Vick was arrested at the scene, and police recovered a firearm equipped with a sear switch holding 27 rounds of ammunition in a 32-round magazine. Investigators determined that five of the 20 shell casings found on the scene were fired from Vick’s gun, prosecutors said.
Two other men were also charged in connection with the shooting. They were both part of the group opposing Vick and his group, according to prosecutors.
Dwayne Francis, 31, of Dorchester, is charged with carrying a firearm without a license, illegal possession of ammunition, carrying a loaded firearm, and possession of a large capacity feeding device. He is scheduled for trial June 1, according to the DA’s office.
Sebastian Monteiro, 22, of Boston, pleaded guilty in October 2024 to assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a firearm without a license, and carrying a loaded firearm without a license. He was sentenced to four years in state prison with one year of probation, the DA’s office said.
Vick’s attorney, Robert White, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night.
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