JOHN RUCH
The suspect in the 2005 shooting deaths of two Egleston Square men is now on trial for first-degree murder.
Terry L. Gray, 40, of Roxbury allegedly killed his stepfather, James Gray, and his aunt’s boyfriend, Charles Wilson, as part of a hit list. Both men were found dead in their apartments—James Gray at 125 Amory St. and Wilson at Walnut Park Apartments, 1990 Columbus Ave.
After their bodies were found, police took other family members into protective custody. They included an uncle who reported that a month earlier, Terry Gray had forced him to his knees at gunpoint and asked him, “Do you want to see God or do you want to see the devil?” or “Who do you want to see first, God or the devil?”, according to varying court accounts.
Prosecutors say that James Gray had been bound, gagged and beaten so badly that the weapon—a 6-pound barbell—broke. He had then been shot through a layer of towels. Wilson was shot in the head through a pillow. Prosecutors allege that Terry Gray signed in at the desks at both apartment buildings to perform the killings, once using his own name and once under the alias “Troy Brown.”
Terry Gray already has a killing on his record—the 1983 stabbing death of a fellow teenager while they worked on a Dorchester cleanup crew in a summer youth program. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter and served time in that case after the state Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) overturned a second-degree murder conviction, according to Boston Globe archives and the SJC opinion in the case. The SJC ruling hinged on evidence that Terry Gray may have had a mental disorder at the time. His last name was spelled “Grey” in that SJC case for unclear reasons. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office confirmed it is the same Terry Gray.
At the current trial, which began June 16, Terry Gray also faces charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a gun and ammo.