Boston officials identify 19-year-old man who was killed in police shooting

Officers were at the scene in Dorchester on Monday were police shot and killed 19-year-old Jaymil Ellerbe.Erin Clark for The Boston Globe

Boston police Wednesday identified the 19-year-old who officers shot and killed in Dorchester Monday in what officials described as an exchange of gunfire.

Officers shot Jaymil Ellerbe on Penhallow Street after he fired at them, according to police. Police and witnesses said officers ordered Ellerbe to drop the gun several times before the exchange of gunfire.

Ellerbe’s relatives declined to speak to reporters at the scene of the shooting.

The Suffolk district attorney’s office is investigating the shooting. The officers have been placed on leave during the review.

Boston police have also arrested a second Dorchester man in connection to the shooting. Ernest Watkins IV, 21, was arraigned in Dorchester Municipal Court Wednesday on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and illegal gun possession. He was also charged as an armed career criminal based on a 2015 conviction for involuntary manslaughter.

He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $25,000 bail, prosecutors said. A lawyer for Watkins declined to comment.

On Monday afternoon, Watkins and Ellerbe fired gunshots at Town Field, a park in Fields Corner, police said. No one was hit, but one man was injured as he ran to escape the gunfire, according to a police report.

Watkins and Ellerbe ran from the park and were chased by police officers, who had been told that one of the shooters was wearing a red shirt and the other was wearing a white shirt, the report stated.

The chase ended on Penhallow Street when Ellerbe shot at two police officers, police said. Both officers returned fire, killing him.

Police said that as officers confronted Ellerbe, Watkins emerged from behind a house on Mather Street, slowed down to a walking pace, and made his way up the street, apparently talking on the phone, according to witnesses and security video.

Watkins then walked to his home on Wainwright Street, about a half-mile away, police said.

Police said they found a loaded revolver nearby. The police report does not say how many bullets were still in the revolver.

Police recovered a second gun on Penhallow Street Wednesday, but it’s not clear whether the weapon is related to the case. The gun has been forwarded to the ballistics unit for further testing.

Watkins allegedly opened fire in Town Field with a 9mm pistol based on shell casings found at the park, police wrote. Police searched the area but did not find the gun, the report stated.

Watkins was just 14 when he was charged with participating in the killing of Cherby LaJoie, 39, who was stabbed 41 times at the Fields Corner MBTA station by multiple assailants, according to officials and court records.

The group fled when passersby on Charles Street tried to stop the Oct. 6, 2012 attack, according to prosecutors.

Watkins was tried as an adult in Suffolk Superior Court on a charge of first-degree murder, and after four days of deliberations, jurors convicted him of involuntary manslaughter, a lesser charge.

He was sentenced to a maximum of five years in the custody of the Department of Youth Services, and the sentence was ordered to end when he turned 18, according to court records. He was also given credit for 883 days he was in custody while awaiting trial, records show.

When he was sentenced, Watkins was 10 months shy of his 18th birthday, court records show.