Shooting kills 1, seriously injures bystander

Gail Waterhouse — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 12:13:39 -0400

Police have arrested a suspect in connection with a shooting that happened around midnight in Dorchester last Saturday that killed one man and left a woman seriously injured.

The shooting happened outside 6 Dudley Terrace on Aug. 20. When officers arrived at the scene, they found a man and woman suffering from gunshot wounds. Ailton Goncalves, 35, of Dorchester, was pronounced dead at the scene. The female victim, who the Boston Globe identified as 31-year-old Merly Miranda, was rushed to the hospital. Officials say she was shot twice in the back, and is paralyzed.

On Saturday morning, Aug. 27, police arrested Aaron Almeida, 22, of Hyde Park in Dorchester and charged him with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm.

At arraignment Monday, prosecutors additionally charged Almeida with armed assault with intent to murder and aggravated assault and battery for the injuries Miranda suffered. A judge ordered him held without bail.

At the time of the shooting, Goncalves was talking with a group of friends at the end of the street. Miranda, who has no connection to either Goncalves or Almeida, was reportedly coming out of of a nearby home to get cigarettes from her car, the Globe reports.

At the same time, according to the Suffolk County DA's office, "Almeida can be seen on footage from nearby surveillance cameras making his way from Dudley Street onto Monadnock Street and then onto nearby Dudley Terrace. About half or two-thirds of the way down Dudley Terrace, Galatis said, Almeida opened fire, hitting Goncalves and the female victim multiple times before running from the scene."

The shooting itself was not captured on video, according to the Globe, and court records reportedly described the shooting as connected to gang activity.

Detectives arrested Almeida based on the surveillance video and "other evidence," and found clothing "identical to that worn by the assailant and two firearms" when executing search warrants.

Almeida will next appear in court on Oct. 5.

Ailton Goncalves | Homicide Watch Boston

Shooting kills 1, seriously injures bystander