Suspect charged in Ciaran O’Conghaile murder.
Story from “Jim Smith” of the “Irish Echo”
“BOSTON — The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office has charged a Dorchester teen with the murder of Aran Islands native Ciaran O Conghaile, who was shot in the chest on October 10 during what was evidently a botched robbery outside O Conghaile’s apartment.
The late Ciaran Ó Conghaile.- Photo from "The Irish Emigrant"
John Graham, 17, has been in police custody since November 6, when he was arrested for an armed robbery that occurred on October 30 on Monsignor Lydon Way in Dorchester, just blocks from where O Conghaile was killed several weeks earlier.
Bullets used in the two incidents evidently linked Graham to both crimes and resulted in last week’s indictment in Suffolk Superior Court.
Known to locals as “Kiwi” Conneely, the 36-year-old O Conghaile was from Mor village on Inis Meain and had been living in Boston for about ten years, working in construction.
He lived in a three-story apartment building on Nahant Avenue in the Adams Corner section of Dorchester, one of the safest neighborhoods in Boston and home to many Irish-American police officers and firefighters.
One of those neighboring firefighters discovered O Conghaile dying from the gunshot wound around 1 a.m. on October 10 outside the apartment building. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital shortly thereafter.
A funeral Mass was held for O Conghaile at St. Mark’s Church on October 13. He was buried in his native Inis Meain later that week.
The indictment charges Graham with first-degree murder, armed assault with intent to rob, and unlawful possession of a firearm. He faces additional charges stemming from the October 30 robbery.
Graham is expected to be arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court in the coming days.
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