7-Eleven armed robberies and others tied to violent gang, police say. One arrested

QUINCY ‒ Police in Quincy and Norwell have made one arrest and issued two warrants connected to a pair of armed robberies targeting two different 7-Elevens and a car theft from a Quincy autobody shop.

The separate robberies took place within less than an hour on the morning of April 17, according to police.

Quincy police connected the suspects with a Brazilian gang known as Primeiro Comando da Massachusetts. Gang members have been convicted of a host of violent crimes, including armed robberies, mostly in Boston, Malden, Everett, Somerville, Framingham and Peabody, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. Until now, no reports have indicated the gang's presence on the South Shore.

Guilherme De Souza, 25, of Lowell, showed up at the Lowell police station on the evening of April 17, saying he was involved in the robberies, according to a Norwell police report.

De Souza admitted to driving three other men to the Norwell 7-Eleven after a night of drinking and using cocaine at a Brockton house party. He claimed he had no idea they were about to commit robberies, the report says.

De Souza appeared at the Quincy police station the following day for an interview, at the end of which he was placed under arrest for armed robbery and motor vehicle larceny.

Based on De Souza's testimony, an arrest warrant was issued out of Quincy District Court for Edson C. DaSilva, 24, of Everett, on the same charges. The third suspect is a juvenile, according to Quincy court’s clerk’s office.

In an interview with Quincy police, De Souza said that three men who robbed the 7-Elevens are members of Primiero Comando da Massachusetts and that they and their associates have committed up to 20 similar robberies, including ones in Canton and Rockland in February and April of this year.

Two 7-Elevens, two robberies, one half hour

The first robbery occurred at the 7-Eleven on Washington Street in Norwell about 4:16 a.m., a Norwell police report said.

Surveillance video shows three masked individuals enter the store, one of whom draws a silver revolver and points it at the clerk behind the counter. Another pulls what looks like a black semi-automatic pistol from his waistband, though this turned out to be a replica BB gun, according to a Quincy police report.

Two male suspects walk around the counter and struggle with the clerk, while the third remains on the customer side with his gun drawn. The clerk is seen handing over the cash drawer. The men leave as the clerk remains behind the counter with his hands up, according to the police report.

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The men were in and out of the Norwell 7-Eleven within 40 seconds, based on the video footage.

About 20 minutes later, Quincy police responded to an armed robbery at the 7-Eleven on Franklin Street, according to a Quincy police report. A store manager told officers that three masked individuals, two of whom carried guns, stole $1,200 in cash and $350 in cigarettes before fleeing on foot towards Water Street.

The robbers walked around the counter, grabbed the clerk by the neck, with one “pushing him towards the register with his gun,” the report says. The clerk told police the men never struck him.

One of the robbers threatened to kill the clerk, according to a Quincy police report.

The clothing of the men involved in the Norwell robbery matches that of the men involved in the Quincy robbery, according to the Norwell police report.

A car crash and pursuit through a Quincy neighborhood

A patrolman responding to the robbery soon spotted a blue Hyundai with five passengers stopped at Water and Liberty Streets.

The patrolman made a U-turn and attempted to pull the car over, but the driver sped away, lost control of the car and crashed into a fire hydrant and telephone pole on Liberty Street, a police report says.

Three male suspects and two young women got out of the car and ran as the patrolman pursued them on foot. The males disappeared into the back yard of a nearby residence, while the young women, 17, and 18, were caught, handcuffed and taken into custody in separate cruisers, the patrolman's report says.

An officer then arrived with a K-9 to track the other suspects. The dog led officers to Schlager Autobody on Centre Street, a little under a mile away from the Franklin Street 7-Eleven. At that point, the dog lost the trail.

Later that day, a local resident reported finding a black BB gun and several unopened packs of cigarettes in his yard. A police detective conducted a search of the yard and found a loaded silver handgun wedged into the ground in the back yard, a police report said.

Officers found "a lot of cash in the backseat" of the crashed Hyundai, a police report says.

The motor vehicle theft from Schlager Auto Body

At 8:06 a.m. on April 17, Schlager Autobody reported a stolen vehicle. Video footage shows three suspects. “The three male suspects in the armed robbery and stolen motor vehicle closely resemble each other,” a Quincy police report says.

The three stole a 2011 Ford Focus, according to the report.

Just how many people robbed the 7-Elevens?

Norwell police interviewed De Souza at the Lowell Police Department on April 17. The next day, De Souza reported to Quincy police station where he was interviewed again and arrested.

De Souza said six people were in the vehicle, the two young women, himself and three other males. He said they left a party in Brockton to drive one of the young women to her home in Lowell.

On the way, one of the men told him to drive around the corner from the Norwell 7-Eleven, De Souza told police.

De Souza said he refused to go into the store but remained in the car with the two young women.

Shown stills from the video, De Souza identified a juvenile whose name has not been disclosed by police, DaSilva and a person De Souza said he met only the day prior named “Vitor,” a Brazilian who he said just arrived from Florida, according to the Norwell police report.

De Souza told police that after the Quincy robbery, “Vitor” demanded they swap pants and jackets, the police report says.

De Souza admitted to entering the tow yard of Schlager Auto Body and leaving in the Ford Focus with DaSilva and the juvenile, though he insisted that DaSilva had been the one who stole it, the report says.

Shown the Schlager’s surveillance video, De Souza identified himself as the person wearing a black and white jacket and black pants with a design on the pant legs, “exactly like the pair worn by the suspect holding the revolver in the robbery,” the report says.

Quincy police also interviewed the two young women detained at the site of the car crash. One of them identified De Souza as the man inside the Quincy 7-Eleven wearing the white and black jacket. Both said De Souza left the car and participated in the robberies, according to a report.

De Souza and the two women said that four males, including De Souza, were involved in the robberies. However, videos from the two 7-Elevens and Schlager Auto Body show only three. In addition, the patrolman who chased the party's Hyundai saw only five people.

It is uncertain based on the police reports whether the fourth male, whom De Souza called Vitor, exists. A list of "offenders" included in a Quincy police report names only De Souza, DaSilva and the juvenile, but not "Vitor." One arrest has been made and two warrants issued.

Quincy police declined to comment, and Norwell police did not immediately respond to The Patriot Ledger’s inquiries.

What do we know about the violent Brazilian gang Primeiro Comando da Massachusetts?

De Souza said the other suspects belonged to a Brazilian gang called Primeiro Comando da Massachusetts, or First Command of Massachusetts. Researching the gang, a Quincy detective learned that 14 gang members have been charged with robberies, drug dealing, trafficking illegal guns and armed assault. One gang member, DaSilva, kidnapped a woman, according to the report.

De Souza, in his interview with Quincy police, mentioned that DaSilva spent time in prison for kidnapping a rival’s girlfriend, a police report says.

The gang first appeared in 2017, and federal agents began investigating its members and associates the following September, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.

Peter Blandino covers Quincy for The Patriot Ledger. Contact him at pblandino@patriotledger.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Armed Massachusetts robberies tied to violent Brazilian gang