In a turn of events that punctuates the somber air with the finality of justice, Zontre Mack, a Canton man of 21 years, was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years for the murder of 15-year-old Curtis Ashford Jr., as confirmed by the Suffolk County Judge Mary Ames today. This sentencing comes over two years after the Dorchester shooting on July 27, 2022, which claimed the young Ashford’s life.
As detailed in the
Suffolk District Attorney
office press release, Mack was 18 at the time he committed the crime, falling under a recent Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Massachusetts that dictates a maximum of 30 years’ imprisonment before parole eligibility for first-degree murders perpetrated by individuals younger than 21.
Alongside the life sentence, Judge Ames also handed Mack additional concurrent sentencing totaling 6 ½ to 7 ½ years for unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a loaded firearm. The concurrent nature of these sentences means they will be served simultaneously with the murder sentence, as per the report.
The scene of the crime was reconstructed through surveillance footage and witness statements, illustrating Mack and Dominic Gavin, then 27 years of age, arriving at Ellington Street around 7:30 p.m. in a vehicle driven by Gavin. Tragically, upon Mack exiting the vehicle and opening fire, the group that included Ashford was dispersed in chaos, with Ashford being shot while trying to escape. Boston Police were able to link the vehicle to Gavin and through gathered evidence, managed to tie DNA and fingerprints to Mack, according to the
Suffolk District Attorney
press release.
The aftermath of the shooting was not just the cessation of a young life but the ripple of grief that stretched through a family previously acquainted with loss. In a poignant victim impact statement, reported by the
Suffolk District Attorney
office, Ashford’s aunt recounted another tragedy, the killing of Ashford’s father 16 years prior, putting into stark relief a cycle of violence that had once again visited the same family. District Attorney Kevin Hayden, upon arriving at the scene shortly after the incident, called the killing “a tragedy upon a tragedy,” as he lamented the permanent scar left on the victim’s family and the long-term impact on Mack’s life due to “a quick and deadly decision to pull the trigger on an illegal gun.”
Dominick Gavin, implicated in the events of that fateful day, received a sentence of three to four years for his role as an accessory after the fact to the murder, following his August 20 guilty plea. This separate trial ended with Gavin facing consequences for his part in the incident that led to the untimely death of Curtis Ashford Jr.
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