Local News

Police: 16-year-old charged in fatal Dorchester stabbing of another teen

Police investigated the stabbing at Columbia Road Devon Street in Dorchester on Sunday evening. Dina Rudick / The Boston Globe

By Kristi Palma @kristipalma and Amanda Hoover @amahoover

February 22, 2016

1 minute to read

Boston police have arrested and charged a 16-year-old in connection with the fatal stabbing of another teenager in Dorchester.

Amari Pope, of Dorchester, was arraigned on a murder charge in Dorchester Municipal Court Monday afternoon, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office. He was held without bail, authorities said.

Police discovered the victim, 15-year-old Deon Hopkins, in the area of Columbia Road and Devon Street in Dorchester just before 4:30 p.m. on Sunday. The injured 15-year-old teen was taken to the hospital, where he later died.

Authorities said the altercation began after Hopkins and a teenage girl got into an argument on Sunday afternoon. Pope, who was present at the time, went to his Columbia Road home where he grabbed a kitchen knife before returning to the scene, according to the DA’s office.

Pope allegedly returned and stabbed Hopkins, chasing him across the street when he tried to flee. Hopkins collapsed in front of a market, where surveillance footage captured Pope circling him and holding the knife, according to the DA’s office. Pope then allegedly fled the scene and changed his clothes.

The incident was initially reported as a shooting, but when police responded they discovered Hopkins suffering from a stab wound to the chest, authorities said. He was taken to Boston Medical Center, where he later died, according to the DA’s office.

Following the stabbing, authorities allege that Pope told a family member he “did something stupid,’’ and suggested that he had a violent altercation with Hopkins that may have resulted in his death. After the statements were reported to police, Pope was transported to the Boston Police Department along with an adult family member.

“The evidence gathered since Sunday afternoon suggests this was a verbal altercation that didn’t have to escalate to violence,’’ District Attorney Daniel Conley said in a statement. “It’s made all the more tragic by the fact that the victim was just five weeks shy of his 16th birthday.’’

Pope is due back in court on March 30.