Family members called Berry loving and kind after Sean Brewer was charged in her fatal Winthrop shooting.
WINTHROP, Mass. — Jacklyn Berry’s family described her as loving, loyal and deeply missed as her husband appeared in court on charges tied to her fatal shooting inside her Beacon Street apartment.
The death of Berry, 47, has left relatives mourning while prosecutors and police examine the actions of Sean Brewer, 58, who says a gun he did not own fired by accident. Brewer pleaded not guilty Tuesday to manslaughter and firearms charges. The case has drawn attention not only for the unusual account Brewer gave police, but also for the gap between Berry’s life as described by family and the sudden violence reported by officers early Sunday morning.
Berry’s relatives said she was “sweet, loyal, loving and kind,” and called her a nurturer who was proud to be a sister, daughter, aunt, niece, cousin and friend. “Words cannot express the devastating impact of this loss on all of us,” the family said. “The world is a little less bright today because she’s gone.” The family did not give an on-camera interview after the shooting, but their written statement was shared as the case moved from the apartment building to East Boston Municipal Court. Friends and family were present when Brewer was arraigned, and local reports described some of them crying and shaking their heads as the allegations were read aloud.
The shooting happened Sunday morning at 26 Beacon St., where Berry had lived since November 2025, according to the building’s landlord. Police were called just after 8:30 a.m. after multiple 911 calls reported a disturbance, an argument and a possible firearm. Officers found Berry wounded inside the apartment. Emergency medical workers treated her there before she was taken to a Boston hospital, where she died. Local reports, citing court documents, said she was found on a bed. The police response brought investigators to a residential block in Winthrop, a coastal town east of Boston where Beacon Street runs through a compact neighborhood of apartment buildings and homes.
Blue Sky Realty, the landlord, said Berry had applied for the apartment by herself and leased the unit by herself. The company said Brewer was not an approved tenant, was not listed on the lease and had not filed an application to be added as a resident. The landlord called Berry a great tenant and said police had assured the company that the shooting was isolated and that there was no wider danger to the public. Those details gave the case another point of inquiry: why Brewer was at the apartment, how long he had been staying there and what role, if any, the living arrangement may have in the evidence.
In court, prosecutors laid out Brewer’s account. Assistant District Attorney Sarah McEvoy said Brewer told police he was preparing before church when he found items in the bedroom that were not his. Among them, he said, was a jacket that contained a firearm. Brewer told investigators he removed the gun and asked Berry about it. McEvoy said Brewer claimed he did not touch the trigger and that the gun “spontaneously went off,” striking Berry. Police recovered a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun and one spent cartridge, prosecutors said. Authorities have not announced who owned the firearm or how it came to be inside the apartment.
Brewer’s lawyer, Lorenzo Perez, said outside court that the defense views the shooting as an accident. Perez said Berry’s alleged statement after she was shot supports Brewer’s account. He also said the gun and the clothes were brought to the apartment by someone else, though he did not provide a name. Brewer sobbed during the hearing as prosecutors read from the case file. A not guilty plea was entered on his behalf. He faces charges of manslaughter, possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card and possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card.
Prosecutors asked the judge to consider Brewer’s background in setting bail. They said he had a lengthy criminal record that included convictions for violent crimes and drug offenses. They also said he had an open case in Boston Municipal Court involving assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest. The judge set bail at $100,000 in the shooting case and revoked his bail in the pending case. As a result, Brewer remained in custody after the hearing. His defense attorney did not argue bail at length during the arraignment, reserving that issue for later proceedings.
The public record still leaves several central questions unanswered. Investigators have not said whether the firearm was tested for defects, whether it had a safety issue or whether it could fire without pressure on the trigger. They have not said whether prints or DNA were recovered from the gun, the jacket or the magazine seen on the bedroom floor. Police have not described the full 911 call or released a complete transcript of Berry’s alleged statement. Officials have also not said whether anyone else was inside the apartment before officers arrived. Those unknowns are likely to matter as the case moves toward the next hearing.
Berry’s family statement remains the clearest public account of who she was outside the court file. It framed her not as a case number but as a person whose death left a large circle of relatives and friends grieving. The criminal case will now test Brewer’s claim of accident against physical evidence, emergency call records, witness statements and the charges filed by prosecutors.
Brewer is scheduled to return to court July 15 for a probable cause hearing. Until then, he remains held as investigators continue reviewing the fatal shooting and the firearm found in Berry’s apartment.
Author note: Last updated June 22, 2026.