RAEKWON D. McLEOD.
WESTFIELD – A city man was released on his personal recognizance – with conditions – Thursday after Judge William O’Grady denied a Commonwealth motion to hold without right to bail the man accused of brandishing a gun during a domestic argument and threatening to shoot people.
Raekwon D. McLeod, 22, of 27 Green Avenue, Westfield, had been arraigned Tuesday on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon, assault on a family or household member, improper storage of a firearm and two charges of threatening to commit a crime stemming from an incident Monday evening and had been held pending a dangerousness hearing after .
Officer Seth Florek reports, in a document filed with the court, that the victim came to the station Monday evening and told Sgt. Michael Chechile that her daughter’s boyfriend, McLeod, had threatened her with a handgun. She told police that the suspect and her daughter live in her home with her and that the suspect was currently there along with other adults and children.
Florek reports that “It was determined that exigent circumstances did exist and the lives and safety of all children and adults present we in jeopardy. Immediate police action was needed to secure the suspect and firearm.”
Florek met with other available officers – Det. Brian Freeman, Officer Timothy Fanion and Officer Aleksandr Golenev – and the four officers walked to the victim’s home at 27 Green Ave., a short distance from the police station.
There, Freeman reports, the officers were met by four adults who had been in the home recently and told them in which second floor room they could expect to find McLeod. The witnesses also told the officer which two rooms were occupied by children of the household.
The officers were allowed entry to the house by the victim and promptly sent a child found in a first floor bedroom outside before they went upstairs. On the second floor, Florek saw McLeod sitting on a bed and he was taken into custody.
Freeman reports that the officers found the second child in another bedroom and that the boy “was unaware that we were there until I opened the door”. The boy was sent downstairs to join his family.
Florek reports that McLeod said that the gun was in a bureau drawer and the officers found an open drawer with a handgun in plain view. The automatic pistol was found to be loaded with a round in the chamber. Florek noted that the gun did not have a trigger lock and “would have been easily accessible to any child or adult within the residence.”
The pistol was seized as evidence and Golenev included a copy of McLeod’s license to carry a firearm with his report.
Golenev reports that he took a statement from the victim who said that McLeod, who has recently had lung surgery, was angry because she had been smoking inside her residence. She said that she “told him that it is her residence and she can do what she chooses to do.”
Freeman reports that he spoke with a family member who had been downstairs playing video games and said that he had heard McLeod and his girlfriend upstairs arguing about people smoking in the house before McLeod “came to the first floor to argue.”
The witness said that McLeod went back to the second floor and returned with a gun. Freeman reports the witness told him “Raekwon had the gun against his chest while he continued to yell about people smoking and said that he would start shooting if he caught people smoking.”
The witness said that he had not watched McLeod the during the entire episode and was not sure if the man had pointed at anyone but said “Raekwon was using the gun to scare and intimidate others”.
Freeman reports that he offered McLeod an opportunity to tell his side of the story but “after spending a few seconds thinking about it, Raekwon stated that he wanted to wait until talked with an attorney”.
At his arraignment Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Megali Montes filed a motion asking that McLeod be held without right to bail due to his dangerousness.
However, when he heard the motion on Thursday, O’Grady denied it and ordered his conditional release on his personal recognizance.
O’Grady ordered that McLeod “not commit a federal, state or local crime during the period of release”, report weekly to the relevant law enforcement agency, surrender all firearms and his license carry firearms, stay away from 27 Green Ave . the victim and all other involved parties except his girlfriend and his child and make no threats, violence or harassment of the victim and all the witnesses.
