In the late afternoon of August 29, 2017, the life of 16-year-old Tenzin Kunkhyen, an Asian male, was tragically cut short inside a home on Farragut Avenue in Somerville, Massachusetts. Emergency responders arrived at the residence to find the teenager with a single gunshot wound to his chest. Kunkhyen was rushed to Mount Auburn Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Although he had previously attended Somerville High School, he had recently moved to the neighboring city of Malden.
The day after he was killed was meant to be his first day of his junior year at Malden High School.
The preliminary investigation suggested that the shooting was not a random act, as Kunkhyen was inside the home with people he knew. Within days, law enforcement identified 17-year-old Jonathan T. Perry of Somerville as a person of interest. Perry lived at the Farragut Avenue home where the shooting occurred. Investigators publicly described Perry as a white male with shoulder-length brown hair and urged caution, stating that he might have access to weapons.
On September 5, 2017, Jonathan Perry was located in Arlington and taken into custody without incident. He was subsequently charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and carrying a firearm without a license. In October of the same year, a grand jury indicted Perry as a youthful offender on charges of manslaughter and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury. Another man, 31-year-old Keith Harlow, was arrested in the same apartment as Perry on unrelated charges, including possession of heroin and resisting arrest.
