Csean Skerritt fired 5 shots in murder of 13-year-old Tyler Lawrence in Mattapan, prosecutor says
DORCHESTER - Csean Skerritt, the man charged with killing 13-year-old Tyler Lawrence in Mattapan last month, was ordered held without bail Friday. Investigators say he fired five shots at the boy.
Skerritt, 34, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court to first-degree murder in the January 29 shooting.
Lawrence, who lived in Norwood, was walking in his grandmother's neighborhood when he was killed on a Sunday morning.
Assistant District Attorney Julie Higgins said eyewitness accounts and video evidence shows Skerritt getting out of his car and walking towards Lawrence at the intersection of Babson and Fremont streets before shooting him. Higgins said the video shows Skerritt running away with an object in his hand "consistent to a firearm."
Lawrence had been shot several times, including in the head. He died at the scene. Five shell casings were found near his body.
Lawrence's family was in court for the arraignment, but stepped out as Higgins revealed the painful details of the shooting.
Skerritt was arrested February 6. He was already in custody on a federal drug charge.
"Evidence has revealed so far that there is no connection between this defendant and Tyler Lawrence," Higgins said.
Earlier this month, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said the shooting wasn't a random act and that Skerritt "intended to do what he did."
Outside court Friday, Hayden said, "the impetus of those comments were around whether or not the larger community needed to be concerned about random violence that's all I'm going to say."
There's no word yet on a motive.
"I can't for the love of God imagine what would allow a 34-year-old man with evil intent to decide to shoot a 13-year-old boy." Hayden told reporters Friday.
Skerritt was convicted of firearm offenses in 2011 and 2014. He was charged with murder in 2015 but a jury found him not guilty in 2017.
Higgins asked that Skerritt be held without bail because of his long criminal record, convictions, probation violations and the pending federal drug case.
He's due back in court for a probable cause hearing March 17.
