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Canton man sentenced to life in prison for killing Dorchester 15-year-old
Zontre Mack, 21, was convicted last month of first-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Curtis Ashford Jr.
A Canton man was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday for the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old in Dorchester in 2022.
Zontre Mack, 21, was convicted last month of first-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Curtis Ashford Jr. He was also found guilty of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a loaded firearm.
On Wednesday, a judge sentenced Mack to serve life in prison with the possibility of parole after 30 years for the murder conviction and a total of 6.5 to 7.5 years on the gun charges, to be served concurrently with his other sentence, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.
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Mack is one of two men charged in connection with the July 27, 2022 shooting. Dominic Gavin, 27, of Boston, pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact and was previously sentenced to three to four years in state prison.
Prosecutors said surveillance video and witness accounts captured Mack and Gavin arriving in the area of Ellington Street around 7:30 on the night of the shooting in a car that was driven by Gavin. Authorities said Mack, who was 18 at the time, got out of the car and fired several gunshots at a group of people gathered on the street. The group, which included Ashford, fled at the sound of the shots, and the 15-year-old was struck while trying to get away.
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The car was located by investigators and Mack’s DNA and fingerprints were found inside, prosecutors said.
Ashford’s family members spoke during the sentencing on Wednesday, with several of them referencing that this is the second time they’ve lost a loved one to violence, The Boston Globe reports. The teen’s father, Curtis Ashford Sr., was fatally stabbed in South Boston in 2008.
According to the DA’s office, Lenise Young, Ashford’s aunt, told Mack during sentencing that her brother “was also taken from us 16 years ago (by) someone just like you.”
“Someone who didn’t know him, someone who had no regard for the lives of others and what their actions would do to the families of the ones they hurt,” Young said in her victim impact statement.
In a statement, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden called Curtis’s murder a “a tragedy upon a tragedy.”
“Curtis Ashford’s family will mourn his loss forever and Zontre Mack will spend a large portion of his adult life away from his family, all because of a quick and deadly decision to pull the trigger on an illegal gun,” he said. “There is nothing but tragedy and sadness in such a scenario.”
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