Chelsea Man Convicted of Double Murder in Lowell

LOWELL—  Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Lowell Police Superintendent Kelly Richardson have announced that Dara Poum, 33, of Chelsea, was  found guilty today of two counts of first-degree murder by a Lowell Superior Court jury in connection with the August 10, 2014 shooting deaths of Keith Callahan, 35, and Joseph Callahan, 29, of Lowell. Poum was also convicted of armed home invasion and possession of a firearm without a license.

A sentencing date has not been scheduled.

On August 10, 2014, at approximately 2:37 a.m. Lowell Police officers responded to a report of a shooting that had occurred inside an Andrews Street home. When police arrived they discovered that the victims, who were brothers, had both sustained gunshot wounds. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities learned that on the night of the shooting the defendant entered the Andrew Street apartment and initially threatened a female occupant with a firearm. After a verbal exchange, the defendant and one of the male victims engaged in a physical altercation inside a bathroom resulting in the defendant’s shooting both male victims before leaving the home. The defendant hid the firearm in the garden behind his girlfriend’s father’s residence, where he had been visiting the night of the shootings, two doors down from the Callahan’s apartment. During the course of their investigation, authorities located that firearm buried in the garden behind that home. Ballistics comparison showed that that firearm had fired the projectiles and shell casings found at the scene as well as in the body of Keith Callahan.

The defendant hid sneakers he was wearing during the shooting in a closet in a residence in Chelsea. Authorities located those sneakers, which were determined to have blood on them. A DNA test would later confirm that the blood on the sneakers was a match to the DNA of Keith Callahan. In addition, during the course of their investigation, authorities discovered the butt of a distinctive cigarette in the bathroom where the shootings had occurred. A DNA test confirmed that the DNA on the cigarette was a match to the defendant’s DNA.

The defendant was arrested on an unrelated warrant on August 20, 2014 in Chelsea.

The prosecutors assigned to this case were Assistant District Attorneys Steven Loughlin, Clarence Brown and Jamie Charles. The Victim Witness Advocate was Dora Quiroz.