Crime

Sean Brewer, 58, is charged with manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Jacklyn Berry, 47.

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The husband of a Winthrop woman who was shot and killed in her apartment Sunday has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the weekend slaying. 

Sean Brewer, 58, is also charged with illegally owning a firearm and ammunition in connection with the shooting death of Jacklyn Berry, 47. He appeared in an East Boston courthouse Tuesday and was ordered held at Suffolk County Jail in lieu of posting $100,000 cash bail, court records show. 

Brewer’s defense attorney was not immediately available for comment. 

Winthrop police responded to a disturbance at Berry’s home at 26 Beacon St. shortly before 8:45 a.m. Sunday, with initial reports indicating that a verbal argument may have escalated to gunfire, the department said in a press release.  

Upon arrival, officers found a woman — later identified as Berry — lying on a bed with a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to a partially redacted police report filed in court. Officers also noticed a firearm magazine on the bedroom floor, the report states.

Berry allegedly told officers that Brewer shot her, though she referred to the shooting as “an accident.” She was rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was pronounced dead soon after.

According to the report, Brewer told investigators the gun wasn’t his, and that it fired accidentally after he found it in the pocket of a jacket that also did not belong to him. He allegedly claimed the firearm “just went off” and struck Berry, who was lying in bed. 

Brewer “denied touching or pulling the trigger or manipulating the firearm other than holding it,” the report states. 

According to The Boston Globe, Brewer sobbed openly throughout Tuesday’s arraignment. The couple had only been married a few weeks.

Court records indicate Brewer has a lengthy criminal history, with numerous drug-related charges and a pending case for assault and battery on a police officer. Brewer was also indicted in 2024 on charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, though Suffolk County prosecutors dropped both counts in February.

The justification for their nolle prosequi filing was not immediately clear, though the Globe reported prosecutors dropped the charges after the alleged victim in that case refused to testify.

Brewer is due back in court on the manslaughter charge July 15. 

Berry’s family has launched a fundraiser to help cover her funeral costs, describing her as “sweet, loyal, loving, and kind.”

“She was a nurturer,” Berry’s family said. “She was a proud sister, daughter, and auntie, niece, friend and cousin to so many. Words cannot express the devastating impact of this loss on all of us. The world is a little less bright today because she’s gone.”