Cops zero in on murder victim’s house Manhunt continues in quadruple slay

Cops zero in on murder victim’s house
Manhunt continues in quadruple slay

By Laurel J. Sweet, Christine McConville, Richard Weir, Edward Mason, Dave Wedge an | Thursday, September 30, 2010 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Local Coverage

Photo by John Wilcox

Amid the desperate manhunt for the depraved killers behind the Mattapan massacre, the investigation focused last night on the townhouse of one of the murder victims - a convicted thief who was dating the young mother savagely gunned down as she cradled her baby boy.
The bullet-riddled bodies of Simba Martin, 21, his girlfriend Eyanna Flonory, 21, her 2-year-old son Amanihoteph Smith and Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22, were discovered early Tuesday morning in front of 40 and 42 Woolson St.
A fifth victim, Marcus Hurd, 32, remained in critical condition last night.
The Woolson Street apartment houses back up to Martin’s pristine townhouse at 23 Sutton St. - a tan-and-mauve building in a hardscrabble neighborhood of century-old triple-deckers.
Boston police had Martin’s home surrounded throughout the day, attempting to execute a search warrant, as neighbors took in the macabre scene from their porches on an unseasonably steamy evening.
The 42 Woolson St. triple-decker was the scene of a similar shooting just one month ago. A man turned up shot in the torso and arms in the front hallway, a police incident report states.
Martin and Eyanna Flonory, a former criminal justice student at Bunker Hill Community College, and the tot were together Tuesday at Martin’s Sutton Street condo, the woman’s family said.
Also yesterday, sources told the Herald that within the past two weeks, Boston police found little Amani Smith wandering alone on Blue Hill Avenue.
A Herald review of court records found that Martin, Washum-Garrison and Hurd had previous run-ins with the law:
At age 17, Martin was arrested for stealing an iPod in the South End while packing a gun. He later pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery and was sentenced to three years probation.
Washum-Garrison, 22, was twice arrested for threatening the mother of his newborn daughter, and also was busted for attacking a cousin with a fork.
Hurd, who sources said did a five-year stint in state prison for cocaine possession, was to go on trial next week on domestic violence charges.
Meanwhile, a source with knowledge of the probe said cops have recovered at least one gun possibly linked to the shooting and that the weapon was found in a bag in the home of the driver of a vehicle stopped around the time of the shootings.
The man was not detained but the officer got the driver’s personal information and some time after the deadly rampage, cops went to his house and found the gun, the source said.
The driver was not home at the time and was still being tracked last night, the source said.
Davis wouldn’t release any more details but said the investigation was “very active.”
Mayor Thomas M. Menino, Police Commissioner Edward F. Davis and other community officials were knocking on doors in Mattapan yesterday, offering comfort and the promise of justice.
“We’re happy with the (investigation’s) progress,” Davis said. “The police are doing everything they can.”

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