Boston woman arrested, arraigned for attempting to bring loaded gun into Suffolk Superior courthouse

BOSTON, January 5, 2023 —A Mattapan woman was ordered held without bail today pending a dangerousness hearing after being arrested this morning for attempting to bring a loaded gun into the Suffolk Superior Courthouse in Boston, District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.

OCTAVIA KELLY, 22, was arraigned in Central BMC on charges of possession of a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a license, possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number and illegal possession of a loaded firearm.  Judge John Garland ordered Kelly held without bail pending a January 10 dangerousness hearing.

Assistant District Attorney Daniel Nucci said that at 9:55 a.m. today Boston police and Suffolk Superior Court officers detained Kelly after the courthouse security scanning machines detected a handgun among personal items she placed on the conveyor belt.  The gun was inside a clutch-style bag, which was placed inside a shoulder-style bag.  A debit card and an EBT card, both in Kelly’s name, were also in the bags.

Kelly told officers she had come to the courthouse to support her boyfriend, Wendell Morris, 33, who was being arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court for firearm charges. She told the officers, “I don’t know anything about the gun in my bag.”

Kelly’s arrest followed the arrest and arraignment last week of a man who attempted to bring a loaded gun through a TSA security checkpoint at Logan International Airport.

“In both of these cases the security equipment and the operating personnel did precisely what they are supposed to do—detect and secure dangerous items, in both of these cases loaded guns,” Hayden said. 

James Borghesani, Chief of Communications