Edward "Eddie" Washington supplied the guns and the getaway car, then helped corral the four people who would wind up dead on Woolson Street, a prosecutor charged at his arraignment this morning.

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin did not say whether Washington actually joined Dwayne Moore in spraying five victims - four of whom died - with gunfire. However, it may not matter, because Zabin laid out a case in which Washington could be charged with first-degree murder under the "joint venture" doctrine, which could hold him as guilty as if he had pulled the trigger.

Zabin said Washington, a one-time member of the Esmond Street gang, with a drug record dating to his teens, met with his cousin, Kimani Washington, and Moore earlier in the day to plot out the robbery of Simba Martin, with whom Moore had briefly lived after getting out of prison earlier this year on a manslaughter sentence.

Edward Washington agreed to give his cousin and Moore two guns with which to rob Martin, whom Moore knew had drugs and money in his Sutton Street apartment, and then drove them over, Zabin said. As they were getting out, Marcus Hurd was driving up to buy some pot from Martin, Zabin said. At that point, he continued, the three would-be robbers pointed their guns at Hurd and Martin, ordered them to strip and ordered them up into Martin's apartment - where they found two more adults, Eyanna Louise Flonory and Lavaughhan Washum-Garrison, and Flonory's two-year-old son, Amanihotep.

The five were ordered to the ground. Edward Washington held a gun on the hostages as Moore ransacked the place and helped him bring money, drugs and a safe outside, Zabin said. Kimani Washington - not currently charged with murder - left in Herd's car. And then, Zabin said, Edward Washington helped Moore march the five outside and around the corner to Woolson Street, where they were all shot over and over again. Zabin stopped short, however, of saying whether Edward Washington took an active role in the slaughter.

The answer to that question could come soon, however. Zabin said the grand jury investigating the quadruple murder "is very close to wrapping up" - which means indictments could be near.

As at Moore's arraignment, today's hearing was packed with relatives and friends of the victims, many of whom craned their necks in a vain attempt to get a look at the alleged killer, who stayed out of the prisoner's holding area and behind two court officers. Some applauded as Washington was ordered held without bail, then hugged outside the courtroom.