Two teens face murder charges in fatal ‘group attack’

Two 17-year-olds savagely beat a teenager before shooting him in the head during a fatal attack in Dorchester, prosecutors charged yesterday.

Malik Albert, 17, of Dorchester and Rodney Gamble, 17, of Lynn were arraigned in Dorchester District Court on charges of murder, as well as assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Prosecutors said they have evidence that Chad O’Connor, 17, was killed in a Jan. 14 attack on Kenwood Street in what they described as a “group attack.”

“That investigation included video evidence depicting the assailants before, during and after the attack, and suggests that both Albert and Gamble were among a group that surrounded O’Connor on Kenwood Street,” prosecutors said.

Two other men, Rishaard Sheppard and Branden Singleton-Legget, both 18, were arrested and charged with murder last month for their role in the crime.

O’Connor, a high school junior, was walking home from a friend’s house last month when six assailants savagely beat and kicked him before shooting him in the head, police said. Prosecutors said one man held onto a parked car to gain leverage while kicking O’Connor on the ground.

O’Connor attended West Roxbury’s Urban Science Academy, where he joined the debate team. His family has said he hoped to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and wanted to design naval ships.

Prosecutors said their investigation into O’Connor’s death has been relentless.

“The evidence suggests that Albert, Gamble and Singleton-Legget beat and kicked O’Connor, and that Sheppard shot him,” prosecutors said. “O’Connor suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head ... and recent ballistics testing has matched the handgun recovered from Sheppard’s home on Feb. 9 to evidence recovered at the crime scene.”

Albert and Gamble will return to court April 18. Sheppard and SingletonLegget will return to court Wednesday.