Under Shadow Of Trinity Church: Trial Of Accused Killer To Wrap

BACK BAY, MA — Five years after a man shot and killed 22-Ahmir Lee under the shadow of Trinity Church in the Back Bay, the trial of the man accused of killing him is wrapping up.

Lawyers’ closing arguments are expected this morning in the trial of Michael Jordon, 30, charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Lee. Lee was shot in the chest just after 11 p.m. near Copley Square on Aug. 22, 2013, and collapsed in the shadow of Trinity Church with fatal injuries, the District Attorney's office announced.

Jordan was identified in the course of an protracted investigation that led to his indictment and arrest nearly two years after the shooting in February 2015.

Boston police found Ahmir Lee lying in front of Trinity Church just before 11:10 p.m. on Aug. 22 2013 with gunshot wounds to the chest. A man, later identified as Michael Jordan, then 26, was seen running away from the area wearing a Blue Hawaiian shirt, according to reports at the time.

The following month Lee's mother and some 30 people gathered in Copley Square as part of a vigil for him and to look for answers upset that then-Mayor Menino had referred to the killing of the young father of two as "drug-related."

Patrons at a Copley Square restaurant told investigators they thought the gunshots were firecrackers – until they saw Lee run from the direction of Trinity Church and collapse on Boylston Street.

Lee was rushed from the scene to Boston Medical Center, where he died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Witnesses told responding Boston Police of a man wearing a blue shirt who was holding a gun and firing at Lee. The man with the gun they said, ran from Boylston to Clarendon Street, where he put the gun in his waistband and got into an older, cream-colored ragtop car and drove away.

Over the days, weeks, and months that followed, Boston Police and Suffolk prosecutors scoured surveillance video from the area and pursued additional avenues of investigation that led them to Jordan.

Investigators learned of a 1991 Chrysler New Yorker registered to Jordan – a ragtop, and cream-colored.

Prosecutes told the court in 2015 that public safety cameras in the area of Jordan’s home not only showed this car parked in front for extended periods of time but also showed Jordan wearing a blue shirt and getting into it at about 7 p.m. on Aug. 22, 2013, and returning sometime after 1 a.m. on the morning of Aug. 23, 3013.

The car, which was frequently parked near Jordan’s home prior to Lee’s homicide, disappeared from the area afterward, Hickman said.

Cell tower records place Jordan’s phone in the area of Copley Square on the night Lee was slain, Hickman said, and text messages from Jordan to his wife and friends appear to refer to that homicide and Boston Police investigators trying to solve it.

Previously on Patch:

One Dead After Boylston Street Shooting, Suspect At Large

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Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch