Prosecutors revealed new details Monday on the three people arrested after a teen was shot and killed at a large Northborough, Massachusetts, house party over the weekend.
The trio, who face weapons charges, were found in the back seat of a car being driven by the woman whose 21st birthday was being celebrated at the party, according to the Worcester District Attorney's Office. No one has yet been charged in direct connection with the fatal shooting of a 16-year-old from Bellingham.
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Wallisom Texeira Da Silva, 20, of Hyde Park; Arnoldo Nogueira Filho,19, of Marlborough; and Pedro Desouza-Passos, 27, of Rockland, were arraigned on firearms charges at Westborough District Court. Texeira Da Silva was held without bail, while Nogueira and Desouza-Passos were held on cash bail, though their lawyers said it wasn't clear from the information from prosecutors why their vehicle had been stopped — one suggested there were grounds to dismiss the case.
The criminal complaints for all three firearms suspects didn't say how the vehicle they were in, a Nissan registered in New York, was pulled over, only that a Southborough police sergeant was helping to process the vehicle.
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The woman identified as the 21-year-old being celebrated at the party had been driving; she was out of the vehicle, along with a female passenger and the three men who were subsequently arrested, according to the complaints.
Ammunition was found in two black purses, one made by Gucci, that were in the back of the vehicle, according to prosecutors. After all five of the vehicle's occupants were read their Miranda rights in English and Portuguese, the complaints said, a detective asked who the bags belonged to.
Texeira Da Silva allegedly said the Gucci bag, which had a Brazilian passport of his and a single 9mm bullet inside, was his; he, Nogueira and Desouza Passos were later arrested for allegedly having weapons without proper documentation.
Investigators at the scene later found a gun, with no serial number, on a path at the property that hosted the party, according to the complaints. Texeira Da Silva allegedly claimed it was his.
Texeira Da Silva was held without bail; he also had a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer against him, as does Nogueira, Worcester Assistant District Attorney Michael Luzzo said.
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Nogueira's attorney called the statement of facts "somewhat strange," for not connecting the shooting and the traffic stop, or explaining what permission police had gotten to search the purses.
Desouza Passos' lawyer went further, saying there are argubly grounds for dismissal: "There is no indication of why the vehicle was pulled over in the statement of facts, there is no indication of why the vehicle was being searched in the statement of facts."
All three men were due back in court May 20.
A person flagged down a Northborough police officer at about 1 a.m. to let them know that someone had brandished a firearm at the party, according to authorities.
That officer called for backup, and as more than two dozen officers approached the home, they heard gunshots. Police found two teens with gunshot wounds.
Two officers carried a 16-year-old from Bellingham down the hill from the property to an awaiting ambulance, but he was pronounced dead at UMass Memorial.
A 17-year-old who was shot, and two other partygoers who were injured in the melee, were taken to Marlborough Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators say several other teens and young adults who were injured declined medical treatment.
Neighbors say this has generally been a very quiet neighborhood, until recently.
"There have been some parties over there the last couple weeks. Last night, we got woken up at 3 a.m. with a phone call. The police department called and just asked everybody to stay in and that they'd keep us updated," said Brian Braveman, neighbor.
"I felt like we really should be given more information about what the essential incident was because I would've liked to have known that there was a gunshot, and I didn't know that, so I just thought it was a wild party," said Connie McManus, neighbor.
One man who was there says it was a birthday party for his friend that turned into a tragedy.
"As I'm taking a picture, we hear 'pop' and we look behind us, and I'm thinking it's a bottle breaking or something and then, 'pop, pop, pop, pop' – and then, that's when everybody starts trampling over everybody, you know what I'm saying?" said the man. "You're seeing people stepping on heads and whatnot and you hear people screaming, 'He's coming this way, he's coming this way!' And I'm thinking, 'Great, he's coming in my direction,' you don't know if this is like a school shooting situation where he's just trying to kill whoever, you don't know if it's random, if it's targeted, all we know is you're hearing shots, you're hearing people say, 'I'm hit, I'm hit,' people saying, 'Yo, he's dying!'"
The 16-year-old who died hasn't been identified.
Investigators told NBC10 Boston the homeowner was home at the time of the party and had been warned ahead of time to not allow the party to happen.
It's unclear if he will also face charges.
