A Boston man has been convicted of murdering a teenager during the city’s annual Caribbean Festival in 2021.
A Suffolk County jury found Omara Shears, 46, guilty of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Javare Sommerville-Adams, 17, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office announced Monday.
The jury began deliberations on Friday following a four-day trial. Shears was initially charged on December 13, 2021. According to the DA’s office, Sommerville-Adams was standing outside Stash’s Pizzeria at Columbia Road and Blue Hill Avenue watching the festival around 9:19 a.m. on August 28, 2021, when the incident occurred.
Shears and Sommerville-Adams were in close proximity before the stabbing. “While in front of Stash’s, Shears reached over and stabbed Sommerville-Adams in the neck,” the DA’s statement read.
Sommerville-Adams suffered a fatal neck wound and collapsed to the sidewalk. Police responded to the scene and transported him to Boston Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Surveillance video captured the incident and showed Shears looking around after the stabbing. He put on a baseball cap, walked over to Seaver Street, and interacted with a family member while still holding the knife.
The two individuals had no prior history, the DA’s office said. Several members of Sommerville-Adams’ family were present in the courtroom when the verdict was read.
“What guilty verdicts can do is bring survivors of homicide victims the knowledge that justice has been served and an offender has been held accountable for their actions,” Hayden said in the statement. “But what verdicts can never do is erase the pain and loss and grief of losing a loved one. I’m grateful for the jury’s service and verdict in this tragic and inexplicable act of violence — which ended the life of a young man enjoying a city festival — and my office will remain at the service of Javare’s family as they continue to process their terrible loss,” said Hayden, who was also in the courtroom when the verdict was returned.
