Daniel Mason '93 was arraigned on murder and weapons charges on March 7th for a March 2nd shooting in the Jamaica Plain section of Boston which left one man dead and another in a coma.
Mason pleaded not guilty two weeks ago in Roxbury District Court and is being held without bail. He was arrested while working at Boston Medical Center.
Mason, 35, is currently a Boston University medical student who was due to graduate in May.
Mason was born in Worcester, Mass., but grew up in Israel, where he was trained in a "special commando unit" in the Israeli military. Mason then enrolled at Dartmouth, where he graduated with a degree in history.
Prosecutors claim that Mason entered Michael Lenz and Gene Yazgur's apartment on March 2nd at approximately 5:30 a.m. wearing a black hat and carrying a 9-mm handgun that he purchased in 1992.
He allegedly proceeded into Lenz's bedroom and shot him in temple, killing him.
Supposedly, he then entered Yazgur's bedroom and shot him in the chin. Yazgur tried to flee, but Mason shot him in the chest and both legs. Before leaving the apartment Mason shot and killed Yazgur's dog, Sampson.
Yazgur remains hospitalized at Boston Medical Center, the same hospital where Mason was training to become a doctor.
In addition, Jefferson Boone, Yazgur's lawyer and family friend told The Boston Globe that there was bad blood between the two men.
According to a police report, in 1997 Mason slashed Yazgur in the face and ear with a knife during a fight between the two over a traffic dispute.
Yazgur, who was working for a moving company at the time, parked his truck, blocking Mason's car.
A fight broke out after Yazgur told Mason he would have to wait five minutes before Yazgur could move his truck, said Craig Lebowitz, who served as Mason's lawyer in that case.
Mason was charged with assault and found guilty and sentenced to probation.
In 1999 Yazgur sued Mason and last August won $116,400 plus interest in damages.
On March 1st of this year, a judge ordered Mason to pay $118,000.
In the courtroom Mason allegedly vowed Yazgur wouldn't see a penny of that money, Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Josh Wall told the Boston Globe.
Mason has had a history of violence. While at Dartmouth he was arrested after a dispute over weights at the gym, but was not charged and underwent psychological testing.
In 1993, he was arrested for breaking into his girlfriend's home in Worchester and threatening to kill her.
The Boston University medical school application, unlike its undergraduate application, does not ask whether the applicant has a criminal record.
According to The Boston Globe, Boston University students described Mason as very religious.
He kept kosher and always wore a yarmulke. He offered advice from the Torah and invited fellow students to dinner around the Jewish holidays.
Friends also claimed he was deeply affected by his military training from Israel. Supposedly, he was trained as an assassin. Mason had entered the army in 1983 and rose to the rank of sergeant major.
Friends told The Globe that Mason tried to sell the guns he had collected and focus on his other hobbies, which include wine tasting, cigars and Internet dating.
However, Mason's defense lawyer, Robert Jubinville, said he did not see a connection between Mason's military experience and the current case.
Michael Lenz was a 25-year-old University of Massachusetts graduate from Minnesota who had published a book of his own poetry and dreamed of becoming a writer, according to the Star Tribune.
Yazgur, 28, is a computer engineer. Friends describe him as an avid rock climber and rock music fan.
After being shot he apparently had enough strength to call 911 on his cell phone.
Mason does not appear to have been heavily involved in campus life while at Dartmouth. He did not list any activities nor did he have his picture taken for the Greenbook or for the Aegis.
(The U-Wire contributed to this report.)
