A man was convicted of murder nearly three years after a deadly shooting in a Massachusetts mall.
Dijoun Beasley, a 26-year-old from Boston's Dorchester neighborhood, was fatally shot at South Shore Plaza in Braintree on Jan. 22, 2022.
Julius Hammond-Desir of Maynard, who was 19 at the time, was arrested on a murder charge. The Norfolk County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday that a jury had convicted him of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say Hammond-Desir is due to be sentenced Thursday in Norfolk Superior Court.
State and local police responded to a call of shots fired with a person down at South Shore Plaza around 3 p.m. on a Saturday. The mall was evacuated and those still inside were ordered to shelter in place until it was safe to come out.
Emergency personnel found Beasley on the ground with at least one apparent gunshot wound. He was taken to a Boston hospital with life-threatening injuries and died several days later.
According to Braintree police, there was an "encounter" between the two men inside a store on the first floor of the mall. Hammond-Desir allegedly approached Beasley, pulled out a firearm and shot him. Police believe Hammond-Desir immediately fled the mall.
Police said at the time that it appeared this was a targeted shooting and not a random event and insisted there was no danger to the community at large.
