NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) — A New Bedford gang member will soon be sentenced after he was found guilty of killing another man in the city more than six years ago.
After a two-week trial, 26-year-old Ivan Fontanez Jr. was convicted Friday of second-degree murder and gun charges in the June 2017 shooting that claimed the life of 18-year-old Brad Lourenco, the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office said.
According to prosecutors, Fontanez and another man, Keeland Rose, got a ride to the city’s South End and walked to Roberto Clemente Park, where Fontanez opened fire at a group of rival gang members. He fired nine shots and one hit Lourenco in the back. Lourenco later died at the hospital.
Fontanez and Rose ran off, and police said the murder weapon was later found hidden on the foot bridge over Route 18.
The DA’s office said it’s believed the attack was retaliation for a shooting the week before that wounded Fontanez’s half-brother.
Rose pleaded guilty in 2019 to an accessory to murder charge and was sentenced to serve three to six years in state prison.
Fontanez is scheduled to be sentenced next Monday, Nov. 27.
