Sean JacksonIn a testament to the number of lives Codman Square’s Sean Jackson touched, hundreds of mourners gathered at Mount Olive Kingdom Builders Church last week to remember a life cut short by an illegal handgun.

Jackson, 26, was discovered dead around midday on Wednesday, Oct. 19 on Percival Street on Meetinghouse Hill, the victim of what police describe as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Many in attendance at Jackson’s Oct. 25 funeral could not understand how Jackson, described by one attendee as “one of the good kids,” would have had access to a handgun, let alone made the decision to take his own life.

Jackson worked as a councilor at the Huntington Avenue YMCA and the Hurley School in the South End. He was known to friends and family alike as an easy-going young man, the first to lend a hand and the last to raise a fist. Boston Police sources have confirmed that Jackson had no criminal record of any consequence.

“Sean wasn’t one of those guys you see posted up on the corner, he was a good guy,” said Erica Maldonado, a close friend of Jackson’s. “He was the last guy you would expect to this to happen to. He had a good job, a nice car, he never started anything with anybody.”

Jackson was a hardworking student, graduating from City on the Hill Charter School before pursuing a full scholarship to the University of Vermont for a year before returning to Codman Square in 2005 to care for his mother, Vernie, following a series of medical complications. Unswayed by a busy schedule, Jackson divided his time between classes at Newbury College, providing guidance for the children he worked with and returning home every night to make sure his mother was comfortable.

His mother recalled the close bond she shared with her son, remarking that some in the neighborhood thought she had found a young husband due to the level of attention Sean provided her. She said that while many of her son’s former classmates found themselves on the wrong end of the law, Sean would stay in close contact and often sent canteen money to friends serving long sentences.

Jackson’s mother described her son as “a rare gift, a kid that never gave anyone any trouble” and said that in the wake of her loss, more than 400 people came to her house to share their memories of Sean.
“Honestly, I don’t know half the people who called or walked through the door, but they heard about it, they found a way to find me and not one of them had a bad word to say,” she said.

While those words of encouragement have helped Vernie through this difficult time, she said the same words make it difficult to understand how Jackson, who had two minor incidents on his police record and was living completely under the Boston Police Department’s radar, came to possess the gun he ultimately turned on himself.

“I’m asking the police to do everything to find out who supplied him with that gun. Sean just wasn’t the type,” Vernie said. “Anyone who knew him would ask him why he would want it, you couldn’t even get him into an argument.”