"Man accused of assault, making threats at Cambridge pool; Said he would ‘shoot the place up,’ DA says" by Javier Panzar | Globe Correspondent, August 09, 2013
MEDFORD — A 22-year-old Dorchester man accused of assaulting a lifeguard at a public pool in Cambridge and threatening to “shoot the place up” because of text messages sent to his girlfriend pleaded not guilty to assault charges Friday afternoon.
Antwon Perkins went to the McCrehan Memorial Pool just after 3 p.m. Thursday looking for a male lifeguard who he said had been texting his girlfriend, another pool employee, said Assistant Middlesex District Attorney Clarence Brown.
Perkins punched a male lifeguard 10 to 12 times in the head and torso before two other pool employees pulled him off the lifeguard, Brown said.
Brown said that after Perkins was pulled away, he threatened the two employees.
“You are lucky I don’t have my .45 with me,” Brown quoted Perkins as saying to the employees. “I am going to go get it and come back and kill you and shoot the place up.”
According to Brown, Perkins left the pool, accompanied by his girlfriend, but came back to the pool minutes later. A pool employee then allegedly overheard Perkins on his cellphone asking for help, saying, “I’m going to kill somebody here,’’ Brown said.
When state troopers arrived at the pool, Perkins fled, but he was arrested near the Alewife MBTA station a few minutes later, Brown said.
He said that after Perkins was read his Miranda rights, he allegedly admitted to assaulting the lifeguard but said he did not intend to return with a gun.
Perkins is currently facing charges in Dorchester Municipal Court for larceny, intimidating a witness, threatening to commit a crime, and malicious destruction of property, Brown said.
In Cambridge District Court Friday, Perkins’s attorney, Ismail Mohammed, asked Judge Roanne Sragow to release Perkins without setting a cash bail.
He said Perkins, a lifelong resident of Dorchester, is currently pursuing a GED and plans to enroll in a community college.
“There is nothing to indicate that he would immediately or imminently carry out those threats,” Mohammed told the judge. “This was mere puffery on his part, maybe a small sense of bravado.”
Yeah, but there are things you just can not say anymore.
Sragow was not convinced.
“This is more than just bravado,” she said as she set bail for Perkins at $25,000 cash.
Joan Jones, a cousin of Perkins from Somerville, was also in court Friday. She said Perkins would go by the pool occasionally to visit his girlfriend and added that she was surprised by the accusations.
“He has had his moments, but, by and large, he is a good kid,” Perkins, 65, said in an interview before the arraignment.
Perkins is charged with assaulting a public employee, assault with a deadly weapon, threatening to commit a crime, and disorderly conduct.
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