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Dorchester Man Arrested In Connection With Jamaica Plain Murders

BOSTON (CBS) - Police have arrested a Dorchester man in connection with two shooting deaths in Jamaica Plain earlier this month.

Wilvin Guity, 28, was charged with two counts of murder in the May 4 shooting deaths of 23-year-old Christopher Joyce and 58-year-old Clayborn Blair.

News of the arrest helped to bring some closure to the victims' families, who are still grieving.

"He was intelligent, lovable, just everything about Chris was a spark of life. Just a great individual," said Joyce's mother, Raeshaunna Armstrong.

Chris Joyce
Chris Joyce was shot and killed in Jamaica Plain just weeks before his college graduation. (WBZ-TV)

Joyce and Blair were fatally shot around 9:41 p.m. in the area of 277 Centre St. in Jamaica Plain on May 4.

Boston Police Commission William Evans commended homicide detectives for their work resulting in Guity's arrest.

Jamaica Plain Shooting
Officers investigate a double shooting in Jamaica Plain. (WBZ-TV)

"While I'm certain our city is a safer place with Wilvin Guity behind bars, I'm still angered when I think about the senseless gun violence that took the lives of Christopher Joyce and Clayborn Blair," Evans said in a statement.

"Community members all across our city should be able to gather and socialize in public places in the company of neighbors and friends without the fear created and caused by those who carry illegal guns in our city," Evans said. "Chris and Clayborn did absolutely nothing wrong and most certainly deserved better fates. And, while there are no words to lessen the pain or sense of loss being felt by the family and friends of Chris and Clayborn, it is my humble hope that word of today's arrest will provide for them some small measure of comfort and closure."

Clayborn Blair
Clayborn Blair was shot and killed in Jamaica Plain (WBZ-TV)

The evening of May 4, Boston Police officers were on patrol in Jamaica Plain when they heard what appeared to be shots fired on Centre Street. They responded to the scene and found Joyce and Blair suffering from serious gunshot wounds. They were later pronounced dead at area hospitals.

Blair is being remembered as a loving father of three who truly loved helping his community.

Joyce was supposed to graduate from Salem State University next week. He would have been the first in his family to earn a college degree.

Members of the Boston Police Department's Homicide Unit and Fugitive Apprehension Team arrested Guity in Dorchester on Saturday.

Guity is scheduled to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court on Monday.

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