New Bedford man, 18, held without bail in shooting of NBPD Detective Lavar Gilbert
FALL RIVER — An 18-year-old New Bedford man charged with shooting New Bedford Detective Lavar Gilbert in the face last summer was held without bail following arraignment in Bristol County Superior Court on Thursday.
Assistant Bristol County District Attorney Shawn Guilderson asked that defendant Denzel Gomes be held without bail, saying he was a danger to the community and a flight risk.
Gomes is charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to murder; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury; assault and battery with a firearm; two counts of attempted assault and battery with a firearm; and carrying a firearm without a license.
Guilderson said Gomes had flown to Senegal at one point to avoid prosecution. Senegal has no extradition treaty with the United States.
He requested a dangerousness hearing be held so that Gomes can continue to be held without bail.
Guilderson said the shooting occurred on the night of July 17, 2023, at about 8:28 p.m. in New Bedford's south end at Orchard and Rivet streets.
He said several units responded to the report of four shots fired.
Guilderson said Gilbert had been shot from a 9 mm gun, and that the bullet had been lodged in his sinus cavity.
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Another man standing nearby in a crowd of people on the corner was also shot in the foot-ankle area.
Both men were hospitalized for treatment. Gilbert, a 17-year veteran of the New Bedford Police Department, has not yet returned to active duty.
Guilderson said it was learned following an investigation that the car involved in the shooting was a white Honda Accord, registered to Gomes' cousin's mother. His cousin, Cheybane Vasconcelos-Furtado, was driving the car that night, he said.
Video surveillance footage from eight minutes before the shooting showed Gomes entering the back of the vehicle with two other passengers, Guilderson said.
One of the passengers seated next to Gomes said Gomes fired the shots out of the vehicle, Guilderson said. He said muzzle fire was also depicted in video surveillance footage.
He said the shots were fired at a crowd on the corner of no less than six or seven people. Just beyond that crowd was Detective Gilbert.
Gilbert was assigned to the “Organized Crime Intelligence Bureau,” and was conducting surveillance while working undercover that night.
It isn't believed that he was being targeted.
Accused took a flight to Senegal
An indictment was returned against Gomes in connection with the shooting on Sept. 26, 2023.
U.S. Marshalls learned that Gomes had boarded a flight at JFK Airport in New York City on Sept. 16 to Senegal, a country with which the United States has no extradition agreement, Guilderson said.
He had a return flight to Frankfurt, Germany, on Oct. 4 but never boarded that plane, Guilderson said.
Officials learned Wednesday, though, that Gomes had boarded a flight out of Portugal to Boston, and he was placed in custody at Logan Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
Dangerousness hearing set for Feb. 27
Judge William White ordered Gomes be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on Feb. 27.
Prosecutors say Gomes was 18 at the time of the shooting and will be tried as an adult.
His cousin, Cheybane Vasconcelos-Furtado, was arraigned in July in connection with the shooting on two counts of armed assault with intent to murder, two counts of assault and battery by discharge of a firearm, two counts of wanton destruction of property over $1,200, and one count each of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon-serious bodily injury, carrying an illegal firearm and carrying a loaded illegal firearm.
Prosecutors said at Vasconcelos-Furtado's arraignment that video surveillance footage showed the white Honda Accord had been at at a roadside memorial for his cousin, 20-year-old Lorenzo Gomes, on Tallman Street moments before driving to the scene of Gilbert's shooting on the night of July 17.
Lorenzo Gomes was shot to death in his car on July 3 in the area of Tallman and Front streets.
Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn said after Thursday's arraignment that the July 17 shooting was "an outrageous act of violence committed in a thickly settled business and residential area in New Bedford."
He added it "endangered anybody in the immediate area and could have taken the life of Detective Lavar Gilbert."
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Denzel Gomes arraigned in shooting of NBPD detective Lavar Gilbert
