Leominster woman accused of fatally shooting boyfriend in head after argument

LEOMINSTER ― A Leominster woman fatally shot her boyfriend in their Main Street home during an argument Wednesday night, authorities allege.

Jami S. Parker, 28, of 888 Main St., was arraigned Thursday in Leominster District Court on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury and armed assault to murder.

Parker — a sergeant in the National Guard with no criminal record, according to her lawyer — sobbed quietly throughout her arraignment. She is trained in law enforcement and has worked as a campus police officer.

She asked for a court-appointed lawyer and was ordered held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing set for Monday.

According to court documents, Parker called 911 around 10:30 p.m. and said there had been a shooting after a domestic dispute with her boyfriend. She requested an ambulance.

Leominster police and emergency medical services found a man, identified in court papers as 52-year-old Jeffrey Carr, on the kitchen floor with a single gunshot wound to the head, according to authorities.

Carr was pronounced dead in the residence at 10:41 p.m., police wrote. State police detectives responded to investigate.

“After a subsequent interview, as well as reviewing the audio recording of Parker’s 911 call, it was determined there was a domestic argument at the residence,” police wrote in papers filed in court. “During that argument, Parker accessed a firearm from the bedroom and shot Carr in the head.”

Trooper Steven Loud wrote that his initial investigation — which he did not detail — showed probable cause to charge Parker.

The lawyer who represented Parker at her arraignment, John Roemer, declined to offer substantive comment on the facts of the case outside the courtroom Thursday.

Roemer said he was hesitant to comment because another lawyer will be taking over the case and because he just received the case about 40 minutes prior to arraignment and hadn't yet gotten access to evidence.

A woman present at the arraignment who, without giving her name, identified herself as an aunt of Parker's, told reporters during a brief exchange outside the courtroom that Parker was a victim.

Asked what the woman meant, Roemer noted that domestic violence is ubiquitous. He indicated he did not know whether any restraining orders had been issued regarding the relationship in the past.

"It's hard to know, without going into the evidence, who the real victim is," he said.

Court papers show Carr was charged by Leominster police twice in 2023 after Parker alleged he was violent with her.

Charges in both cases were dropped after prosecutors wrote in court documents that Parker did not wish to pursue them.

The most recent charges against Carr – for domestic assault and battery and assault and battery on a pregnant victim – were dropped in February of this year.

Court papers show in that case, Parker had driven herself and Carr to the Leominster police station after alleging he hit her while she was driving because she didn’t want him to smoke in the car on account of her pregnancy.

Parker obtained a restraining order, which later expired, in that case, alleging in an affidavit that Carr had been drinking all day and berated her when she asked him to get out of the car.

Police wrote in court documents that Carr appeared unsteady on his feet and smelled of alcohol at the station. They said Carr, upon being asked what happened, said he “didn’t know” and that he “didn’t know what was happening.”

Police noted that Carr was aware that Parker was pregnant, telling them he had an ultrasound picture in his wallet.

In the earlier case, in January 2023, Carr was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon after Parker alleged he, after drinking, threw glass Christmas ornaments at her at 888 Main St.

Parker said none of the ornaments hit her, but that Carr refused to leave the house. Police wrote that they observed and took photographs of broken pieces of ornaments in the home.

Carr left the home before police arrived, and was arrested elsewhere. Police wrote in their report that, when they spoke to Parker, she told them, and pointed out to them, firearms that belonged to Carr’s deceased father that were in the 888 Main St. home.

The firearms were properly stored and locked, police wrote, and they asked Parker “if she felt comfortable being in possession of these firearms, as she has an active LTC [License to Carry] and Jeffrey does not."

“I advised her that we could seize them,” an officer wrote. “Jami had no problem possessing the firearms until Jeffrey and his brother could figure out what to do with them.”

Leominster District Court records do not show any charges against Parker other than the ones lodged Thursday.

They show another restraining order issued against Carr in 2011, when a separate woman, in an affidavit supporting its issuance, wrote there had been a “long history of physical abuse during our marriage.”

The woman said Carr has “threatened to hurt me if I take him to court for child support,” and that her “most recent fear is the text he sent me Christmas night stating that he was going to burn my house down.”

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This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Leominster woman accused of fatally shooting boyfriend after argument