Cops: Man fires gun by shoveler
Teen shaken up by incident, uncle says
The owner of a Reading apartment complex said his 17-year-old nephew who was shoveling snow late Tuesday night when a tenant shot a gun into the air 3 feet from his head is shaken and traumatized.
“Last night, my godson was shoveling and doing regular ice management,” Shawn Ferris, 51, of Reading told the Herald. “The tenant came outside. He walked next to my nephew, pulled out a gun and 3 feet from his head fired it in the air.
“He’s shaken up. He didn’t think something like this could happen in this small community,” Ferris added. “You don’t know people. You can’t trust people.”
Jeffrey Logan, 38, pleaded not guilty Wednesday at Woburn District Court. He was held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing Feb. 21. He is facing charges of carrying a firearm without a license (fourth offense), disorderly conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon, and disturbing the peace.
Logan had lived at the five-unit dwelling for about two years and appeared normal and welldressed when Ferris first met him to lease the apartment. Before, he had been living with his mother.
Little did he know that Logan, according to prosecutors, has a lengthy criminal record, including four prior restraining orders.
“He was just a single guy,” Ferris said. “I had some former tenants who didn’t care for him. He was up at all hours of the night.”
The incident started at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Woburn Street complex when Logan went outside to where the 17-year-old was shoveling around the back walkway and began talking about his past history of being a drug user and serving time in jail, according to the police report. Minutes later, Logan pulled out a gun and shot it into the air.
Logan then told the boy he “better not snitch.”
The teenager remained calm and went to report it to Ferris, who was down the street in his office. The two reported it to police.
Logan was arrested at 2:55 a.m. Wednesday without incident by the Northeast Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council (NEMLEC) SWAT team. Police seized a semiautomatic handgun from the apartment where Logan was.
“I’m grateful that this incident was resolved efficiently and peacefully,” Deputy Police Chief David Clark said in a statement. “This would not have been possible without the support of our law enforcement colleagues at NEMLEC, as well as the Stoneham, Wakefield, Wilmington Police Departments.”
Ferris thanked Reading police for being so calm and comforting during the whole ordeal.
“The Reading Police Department was outstanding,” Ferris said.