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Man found dead after being shot, crashing car was out on bail

A man who crashed a car into a residential fence in Mattapan early Saturday after being shot had appeared in court to face serious criminal charges in two cases in the past six months, officials said Sunday.

The man, who died, was Daquon Brown, 23, of Boston, according to his attorney and a law enforcement official with knowledge of the investigation.

Boston police had not officially identified the man by Sunday afternoon.

Brown’s family could not be reached for comment.

Skip Hakala, an attorney representing Brown, said Sunday afternoon that he had just returned from travel out of state and had been notified of the shooting only minutes earlier.

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“I was shocked to hear that he had been shot,” said Hakala, who declined to comment further.

Some, including Boston’s police commissioner, William B. Evans, questioned why a man facing serious charges was on the street.

“Boston police officers put their lives on the line each and every day in an effort to keep our city safe, often dealing with violent offenders who have no regard for human life, including their own,” Evans said.

“Prosecutors work very hard to keep those charged with violent crimes off the street for the safety of the public and at times for the safety of the offender,” Evans continued. “It’s frustrating when we see acts of violence that could have been prevented, had different decisions been made.”

The Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, pastor of the Azusa Christian Community and cofounder of the Boston TenPoint Coalition, an anti-violence organization, said he has asked Evans to host a meeting for criminal court judges to hear from the Youth Violence Reduction Task Force, a community group that works with the police and the city’s larger African-American community to improve public safety.

Rivers said that Brown was representative of “a number of very violent repeat offenders that are too frequently now circulated through the system and released back on the street.”

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“These young men, amazingly, are being released back into these poor neighborhoods and never held accountable,” Rivers said.

“This wouldn’t happen if we were talking about Wellesley or Weston and young men like this. . . . The black community, in particular, must demand more of these judges.”

Just after midnight on Saturday, Brown crashed a car into a chain-link fence surrounding 679 River St. after apparently being shot a few blocks away at the intersection of Tileston and Rosemont streets, investigators said.

Brown was one of three men arrested by Boston police in a June drug bust that captured more than 100 grams of crack cocaine and a pound of marijuana, as well as three handguns and more than $1,000 in cash, according to the Police Department’s website.

In that arrest, Brown was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and trafficking in a Class B drug (the crack cocaine), the department said.

Brown was initially held on $50,000 bail on the drug and firearms offenses and was turned down when he petitioned Suffolk Superior Court to reduce his bail, according to a law enforcement official who was briefed on the case.

But three weeks after his arrest, Brown was released on $25,000 bail after a Dorchester Municipal Court judge reduced the amount of bail, the official said.

Then, in October, Brown was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on charges filed in connection with a March gunfight in Roxbury that left Allex Bryant, 28, dead, according to the office of Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley.

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Brown allegedly participated in a shootout alongside brothers Niccokawon and Dartanyan Pledger and Niccokawon Pledger’s girlfriend, Lisa Lewis.

Prosecutors alleged that Brown fired a gun multiple times as the group fled after the Pledger brothers fatally shot Bryant.

Brown was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to murder, and additional gun charges.

His bail in that case was set at $3,000.

Rivers said the charges against Brown indicated he was “a bad actor” who should not have been released, which put his own life and the lives of others in danger.

“This guy got let out a gazillion times,” Rivers said. “He should have never been on the street, and he probably would be alive today if he hadn’t been let out.”


Jeremy C. Fox can be reached at jeremy.fox@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeremycfox. Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.