Crime & Safety

Winter Hill Shooting—and Stabbing—Tied to Botched Marijuana Deal, Reports Indicate

One of the alleged shooters was stabbed in the Dec. 1 incident, and a cell phone number led detectives to the suspects.

Police reports released by the Somerville Police Department shed some light on what happened the night of Dec. 1 in Winter Hill when a 24-year-old was shot in the chest and sent to Massachusetts General Hospital with non-fatal injuries.

It turns out one of the alleged shooters, Khyam Mayes, 29, of 23 Hilton Terrace, Roxbury, was stabbed during the incident and also ended up at Massachusetts General Hospital, according to one of the reports.

Mayes and another man, 18-year-old Joshua Sullivan, whose last known address was 33 Jacques St., Somerville, were ultimately arrested and charged with armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection to the shooting.

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The victim and Mayes told police different accounts of what happened that night, but according to a police report they had agreed to meet on Evergreen Avenue for a marijuana deal.

According to the report, the victim told police that during the deal Mayes grabbed the victim's jacket and pointed a gun in his face, yelling, "Give me your [expletive]." The victim them pulled a knife and swung it at Mayes in self defense but was then shot in the chest, the victim allegedly told police.

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Doctors told police the bullet went through his upper left torso.

Mayes allegedly told police a different story. According to the report, during the deal Mayes put his hand in his pocket to get his wallet when the victim, the dealer, suddenly stabbed him. Mayes told police he then heard gunshots, and he assumed that Sullivan, who was also there, shot the victim.

A cell phone number was the key

The reports outline some of the detective work that led police to the suspects.

After the shooting, Mayes and Sullivan drove back to to Medford, where they had been staying with a woman in her Fellsway West apartment run by the Medford Housing Authority, the report says.

After receiving a 911 call, Medford police responded to the apartment.

Medford police learned the woman, who shared a cell phone with Sullivan, had let Mayes, suffering from the stab wound, use it to call his girlfriend, who in turn called 911 to arrange medical assistance.

That same phone number was found stored in the shooting victim's cell phone, the report says.

After the shooting, the victim's girlfriend showed detective's her boyfriend's cell phone, according to the report. The most recent incoming call had come from this same cell phone number. 

A data search confirmed the same number was used to call Mayes's girlfriend after the stabbing, the report says.

Also, the data search showed the cell phone number was in close geographical proximity to the Somerville shooting, according to the report. 

In other words, the cell phone number tied together the stabbing and the shooting, the suspects to the victim and the suspects to the site of the shooting.

Police arrested Sullivan and Mayes on Dec. 7. They were arraigned that day in Somerville District Court and held without bail until a bail hearing, scheduled for Thursday, according to Boston.com.


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