Haverhill man denied bail for gun play in Lawrence

HAVERHILL — A Haverhill man who police allege was involved in an incident in which bullets were fired into the air in Lawrence on the night of April 10 appeared in Haverhill District Court on Monday, where he was ordered held without bail as a danger to society.

Jaime Alexander Blaisdell, 22, of 22 Porter St., Apt. 2, is charged with possession of a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a license, possession of a large capacity firearm feeding device, receiving stolen property, having a weapon stored or kept by its owner that is inoperable by any person other than the lawfully authorized user, and defacing a firearm serial number.

Blaisdell, who police said is a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang, was initially arraigned on the charges on April 27 in Haverhill District Court where Judge Cesar Archilla ordered that he be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Monday.

At that hearing, Assistant District Attorney Meredith Underwood argued against bail for Blaisdell, saying he has serious violent crimes on his record, although the charges were dismissed, and that he is currently on probation on a different case. She indicated his new case stemming from the incident on April 10 has been assigned for possible indictment.

Defense attorney Scott Gleason argued there is little evidence to show his client was involved and added that Blaisdell works two jobs and that his employers are waiting for his return to work.

Judge Cesar Archilla found Blaisdell to be dangerous and ordered him held without bail. The judge scheduled the next hearing for June 21 via Zoom.

Police said Blaisdell’s car was identified as being involved in the April 10 incident, in which police said multiple rounds were fired in the vicinity of Ferry and East Haverhill streets in the Prospect Hill area of Lawrence. Police had received two calls on April 10 at 11:44 p.m. about shots fired. Officers were unable to locate any spent shell casings, suspects or victims at that time.

The next day, April 11, residents in the area of where the shots were heard directed police to seven spent shell casings on the ground.

Police said they recognized Blaisdell’s 2005 silver Honda Accord on city and private video surveillance recordings, as its front bumper was missing, among other distinctive features and that they’ve interacted with Blaisdell in the past.

Police tracked the Honda as it traveled throughout Lawrence using more surveillance cameras, ultimately following the car toward East Haverhill and Ferry streets, where gunshots are seen being fired into the air from the car’s passenger side. Surveillance footage showed the car heading into Methuen, onto Interstate 495 north and back into Haverhill, the report said.

At Monday’s hearing, Underwood said police identified the car involved as being registered to Blaisdell.

According to a police report, following an investigation into the April 10 event, Lawrence Police Detective Jose Nunez was granted a warrant to search Blaisdell’s apartment on April 27 for ballistics evidence such as firearms, ammunition and magazines.

Lawrence and Haverhill detectives and members of the Massachusetts State Police STOP team entered the building around 6 a.m. and encountered Blaisdell and several family members.

Police said they searched Blaisdell’s third floor bedroom and in an adjacent storage room found a fanny pack containing a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield pistol loaded with 13 rounds of ammunition with one round in the chamber. Police said the gun’s serial number was barely legible as it had been scraped off, but they were able to determine the gun was one of approximately 17 firearms stolen from a federal firearms licensee in Milford, New Hampshire.

Gleason said that police may have had probable cause to search Blaisdell’s car, but not his house, and that there’s no evidence, to date, that the gun police found was the one used in the incident in Lawrence or that Blaisdell even possessed a gun.

“It sounds like a motion to suppress,” Archilla interjected.

“Oh you can believe that one for sure,” Gleason responded.

“There’s no evidence that my client was even in that car,” Gleason exclaimed. “Maybe you have a nexus (a connection) to search the car, but you don’t have a nexus to search the house.”

Gleason added that police have “no idea” who was in Blaisdell’s car, but even if Blaisdell was behind the wheel, someone else fired bullets into the air.