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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden spoke out about recent firearm-related arrests of two men with numerous prior gun convictions.
On Oct. 8, Boston police officers pulled over 40-year-old Daniel Larkins for speeding and failing to stop before a crosswalk. Officers quickly discovered Larkins was driving with a suspended license and had a pistol under the driver's seat. Larkins had previously served two sentences on firearm convictions.
In a separate incident on Oct. 12, 27-year-old Jamison Gatson was pulled over for failing to stop at a stop sign. Gatson, unable to produce a driver’s license, attempted to drive off. Officers jumped into the vehicle to gain control and found what appeared to be cocaine and a .45 Caliber Glock 30. Gatson had previously served a state prison sentence for firearm-related offenses.
Hayden called these arrests “a prime example of a fairly small group of repeat offenders driving the illegal gun possession menace” in Boston.
“These gun possession arrests are cases where prior convictions and prior incarcerations have apparently done little to dissuade these individuals from repeating the offenses that led them to prison in the first place,” said Hayden.
“These cases also highlight the need for us as a society to recognize the concentration of guns among a core group of individuals—in this case, two repeat offenders—and to find ways to break the cycle, which so often leads to violence and tragedy, as we just witnessed on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning,” said Hayden.
Hayden also said the solution “has to involve more than police, prosecutors and prisons."
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