I assume that it was the Essex Street, Chelsea fire that I saw from the Mass. Ave. bridge this morning.

PROJECT BREAD SUPPORTS ‘FOOD AND FUN’ FOR CHELSEA KIDS THIS SUMMER
$225,900 in statewide grants aim to help families cope with food and gas crisis

June 27, 2008 — EAST BOSTON — When school is out, kids who rely on free or reduced-price school meals need a safe place to go where they can get a healthy meal and have some summer fun. That’s why Project Bread is providing $3,000 in incentive grants to the Summer Food Service Program in Chelsea in an effort to help families cope with the skyrocketing cost of food and gas.

Chelsea at night in the rain.

A former Army marksman was convicted of first-degree murder today for fatally shooting a man outside a Fenway-area bar in 2004, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office announced.

Yat Fung Ng, 29, of Chelsea, will be sentenced June 18 in Suffolk Superior Court for shooting Karriem Brown in the head outside An Tan Nua, 835 Beacon St. on May 23, 2004. Brown died a month later after numerous surgeries at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Prosecutors charged Ng injected himself into a fight around 2 a.m. and began arguing with Brown:

Wearing a camouflage jacket and waving his hands, he allegedly called over to Brown, "You think you're bulletproof?"

This second altercation appeared to have ended when Brown entered his friend's car and began to leave the area, Flashner said, only to exit the vehicle and once again verbally engage Ng.

Ng then went to his own car and retrieved a .45 caliber handgun with an extended ammunition clip.

"What are you going to do? Shoot me?" Brown allegedly said.

From a distance of about 15 to 20 feet away, Flashner said, Ng leveled the firearm, sighted it, and fired a single shot that hit Brown "just an inch and a half away from squarely between the eyes," Flashner said.

Ng then fled the area in his car. Several witness observed the shooting and Ng's flight from the area. When Ng fled, a friend of the victim followed him in his car, observed his license plate number, and later relayed it to police.

• Just too plumb tuckered out from blogging that other murder trial.
• More coverage from this year's trial of the century.

A Chelsea man died yesterday after being stabbed at least eight times and attacked with a baseball bat in a Chestnut Avenue home, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

Shadeed Wiggins, 25, was stabbed repeatedly in the chest, neck and face, prosecutors say. Eugene Teixeira, 21, is charged with murder and home invasion. A teen, 16, is charged with home invasion and disorderly conduct.

Prosecutors say the three lived together with Teixeira's and the teen's mother. Wiggins and the mother asked the two to leave yesterday. They did, then returned with baseball bats and forced their way in. After attacking Wiggins, Teixeira pulled out a knife and began stabbing him, prosecutors say.

Not the Pope.

Richard "Pops" Picardi, Sr., 76, was arraigned in Chelsea District Court yesterday on charges he sold OxyContin and bootleg cigarettes out of a Chelsea taxi garage, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office says. In a statement, the office adds Picardi uses a prosthetic leg.

Prosecutors charge Picardi sold OxyContin tablets to undercover police officers in exchange for both cash and cigarettes. Picardi then allegedly resold the cigarettes without affixing Massachusetts tax stamps.

Also seized: A number of packages of razors and five bottles of allegedly purloined Drakkar Noir and Thyme Ginger Mint cologne.

DA Dan Conley said Picardi is "old enough to know better." Picardi pleaded innocent yesterday. He is due back in court on June 4.

Surely, some cop is going to look at this, figure out where it is, and then use the video as evidence against the people in the video.

Herald: Cop impersonators robbing people at home in Chelsea, Revere and Everett.

Chelsea police followed footprints in newly fallen snow to find a man wanted for raping an Everett woman early this morning, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

Juan Amaro, 25, of Chelsea, was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail this morning on charges of rape, kidnapping, assault with a dangerous weapon, and intimidation of a witness. Amaro pleaded innocent in Chelsea District Court.

In a statement, the DA's office outlined what police say happened around 3:30 this morning at Chestnut and Fifth streets:

A beefy East Boston teen with a lengthy record of violence is being sought for the triple shooting that left one dead at King Arthur's Lounge in Chelsea last week.

Jesse "Fat Jesse" Camacho, 19, is wanted for the murder of Jeff Santiago of Everett and two counts of armed assault with intent to murder for shooting the other two men. Not surprisingly, Camacho has gone into hiding; the Suffolk County DA's office held a press conference this afternoon to seek the public's help in finding him. DA Dan Conley said:

Our investigation has revealed that a verbal altercation between two small groups of men erupted inside King Arthur's shortly after midnight. Within moments, that verbal altercation escalated to physical violence between the two groups. During that clash, Camacho produced a black handgun from his waistband and fired it multiple times, striking three victims: a 29-year-old Everett man believed to be part of the victim's party, a 41-year-old Charlestown resident who worked at the establishment, and Mr. Santiago.

Camacho is also known as "Baby Jay" and "Syke." He's between 5'5" and 5"7" and weighs about 280 pounds. Officials described him as armed and dangerous; the Globe details his violent record.

One wonders if Chelsea officials might also be investigating how a 19-year-old wound up in a bar after midnight.