Mayor, Chief: Suspects arrested by Malden Police in local shootings ‘Should never have been on the street’

‘The courts dropped the ball’: One suspect allegedly shot a 68-year-old grandmother in Lynn a year ago

By Steve Freker

The 20-year-old suspect being held in the July 9 shooting in Malden Square is the same person who allegedly shot a 68-year-old grandmother who was on her way to get her taxes done in Chelsea, just over a year ago in April 2022.

“The court system dropped the ball. Somehow, they ruled this suspect did not pose a dangerous threat and he was out pending trial on a bracelet,” Malden Police Chief Glenn Cronin said at an Emergency Public Safety Meeting held for an unrelated shooting in Ward 2 on July 13.  “But because he was a danger, he came to Malden (on July 9) and shot somebody.”

Chief Cronin was referring to Jefferson Barillas, 20, who apparently lives in Malden and Lynn, who was arrested by Malden Police nine hours after he allegedly shot a 31-year-old victim on Main Street outside of New York Pizza in broad daylight in the middle of Malden Square.

Barillas was arrested by Malden Police at a Pearl Street, Malden residence just before midnight in connection with the July 9 shooting, arraigned in Malden District Court, held without bail and then remanded to a dangerousness hearing the following week. Rendered dangerous to the community at large at the hearing, Barillas has continued to be held without bail in a Middlesex jail.

Barillas was 18 years when he was arrested in April 2022, four days after he allegedly shot an innocent bystander, a 68-year-old grandmother who was crossing a busy Chelsea Street who happened to be near where Barillas was allegedly shooting at another victim.

In Suffolk Court, Barillas was charged on April 27, 2022 with assault with intent to murder on a person over 60, assault and battery with a firearm, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.  ADA Myriam Feliz handled the arraignment.  According to reports, he was released on an ankle bracelet after a May 2 dangerousness hearing

He is now accused of being the shooter in the Malden Square incident, strikingly similar since it took place in broad daylight, on a sunny weekend afternoon, with an allegedly masked Barillas shooting at an intended target.

This time Barillas allegedly hit who he was intending to shoot, in an apparent drug-related incident. The victim, 31, was not a Malden resident, neither was Barillas listed as such, though he was arrested at a Malden home later that evening.

“They (Malden Police) are finding them, and they are arresting them… and the court system is letting them back on the street,” Mayor Gary Christenson said of suspects in Malden incidents, at the July 13 meeting. “It’s demoralizing and it’s a credit to our police officers and detectives that they don’t let it affect them.

“They’re (Malden Police) putting them in jail and they’re finding their way back out,” the Mayor said. “We have suspects with 50, 60, even 70 prior occurrences and they’re back out. “There are flaws in the system and when it comes to gun violence, there shouldn’t be flaws,” Mayor Christenson added.

In another recent shooting, where a woman was seriously injured with life-threatening injuries in the lobby of an Overlook Ridge apartment building, the suspect arrested two days after the incident in that shooting, Mohamed Abdulaziz, 35, no address given, also had a lengthy prior record, the Mayor said.

“The incident at Overlook? He should never have been on the street. (He had) a record as far as you see,” the Mayor said of Abdulaziz, who is charged in the June 18 shooting with armed assault with intent to murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of ammunition.

“There are laws on the books that anyone caught with an illegal gun is supposed to face a minimum mandatory prison sentence. That’s not happening and that’s a major issue,” Mayor Christenson said. “Anytime you see a state legislator or one of our federal reps in Congress or the Senate, please tell them you are concerned about this.”

“None of them from the Overlook Ridge incident were from Malden. None of them lived there, they were all from the Boston area from some incident that spilled over into Malden. There were no Malden connections,” Chief Cronin said. “The suspect charged and some of the others that were investigated since they were present, were from Mattapan, Dorchester, Roxbury and they all had (arrest) records from here to Bismark, North Dakota.”

Both the Chief and Mayor said that while the situation with the court system was frustrating, it would not keep them and the police department from their duties.

“We are not letting up and we will continue our mission, which is to keep the citizens of the Malden community safe,” Chief Cronin said.