Marcus Hurd: Mattapan massacre survivor’s sudden recall of shooter is questioned
A doubting defense attorney tried to poke holes in the testimony of police detectives and a victim-witness advocate who said the lone survivor of the Mattapan massacre told them he can now identify the alleged gunman.
Marcus Hurd, who was left a quadriplegic after being shot in the head and testified from his wheelchair during the murder trial of two men earlier this year, said he has since remembered more of the night of the shootings, specifically the identity of the shooter.
That’s according to Boston police detectives and a victim-witness advocate who spoke with Hurd after this year’s trial that ended in an acquittal of one of the accused gunman and a mistrial for the other, Dwayne Moore.
Moore’s second trial for the murders is set for next month, but in Suffolk Superior Court today his attorney tried to cast doubt during a hearing on a motion to suppress Hurd’s new testimony.
John Amabile, Moore’s attorney, questioned Detective Frank McLaughlin on why he and another detective didn’t record an interview with Hurd after Hurd said he could now identify the gunman.
“We were outside in a public place with people coming and going … there was no room where we could go where we wouldn’t be interrupted,” McLaughlin said about his visit this summer to Hurd’s rehabilitation facility.
McLaughlin said he had his recorder with him, as he often does, but that he didn’t use it.
When Hurd originally testified he said he couldn’t identify the men who set upon him and four other people. He described one man as a tall, skinny gunman, but said both were wearing masks or hoodies.
Detectives said that Hurd told them since the trial that he recognized Moore’s “bone structure” and skin color while he was in court.
Those killed in the shooting were Amanihotep Smith, 2, Eyanna Flonory, 21, Simba Martin, 21 and Levaughn Washum-Garrison, 22.
