New Bedford shooting: Fall River man killed in city's first homicide of 2023.

NEW BEDFORD — A 29-year-old Fall River man was shot and killed in New Bedford overnight in the city's first homicide of the year.

According to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, police were notified that the Shot Spotter system detected shots in the area of Dartmouth Street at Dunbar Street at 10:52 p.m. Monday.

Responding officers located the victim, Derek Pires, 29, of Fall River, sitting in the driver’s seat of a black Dodge Charger parked on the south side of Dunbar Street.

The victim had sustained gunshots wounds and was rushed to Saint Luke’s Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased at 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. He was the sole occupant in the vehicle.

Homicide Unit prosecutors, State Police Detectives assigned to the district attorney's office and New Bedford Police are actively investigating.

Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, no further information about the facts of the case can be disseminated at this time, according to the DA's office.

If anyone has information regarding this incident, they are urged to call 508-991-6300 or to utilize the New Bedford Police Anonymous Tip Line at 508-961-4584.

Pires was allegedly involved in a December 2018 shooting in Fall River in which there were no injuries.

Prosecutors wanted to charge him as a career criminal at the time.

In that case, police were sent to Tecumseh Street on a report of shots fired at about 6:45 p.m. One car had been been hit by three bullets, police said. A second car had been hit twice, and a multi-family home was also damaged by "several bullets."

Officers later recovered 13 spent 9 mm shell casings at the scene, according to the police report.

An officer assigned to the Special Operations Division Gang Unit received word that five men were seen running toward Lowell Street. There, the officer noticed a gray Dodge Charger he knew was normally driven by Derek Pires. His address at the time was listed as 311 County St. in New Bedford.

According to the officer’s report, Pires was a member of the Asian Boyz street gang. He was described as a high-ranking member in a search warrant affidavit related to a separate April 2018 case.

Police found Pires behind the wheel of the Dodge Charger, according to the police report. A red jacket with a hood was in the back seat.

Pires was taken into custody, and the Dodge Charger towed to police headquarters where a police K-9 trained to detect components of firearms searched it. The K-9 sat down beside the rear door on the driver’s side, indicating the presence of a material such as black powder, gun oil, spent shell casings or gunshot residue, according to police.

The police K-9 searched the area on Lowell Street where the Dodge Charger had been parked, but did not find a firearm, according to police.

Pires was charged with possessing a large capacity firearm, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, firearm violation by a person with three violent drug crimes, carrying a firearm without a license (second offense), and carrying a loaded firearm without a license.

The new charged prompted a judge to revoke Pires' bail at that time, pending a dangerousness hearing, for an April 23 drug possession case.

In the search warrant affidavit, a police officer said Pires was a “loose cannon” whose clashes with other gang members suggested “another shooting is imminent.”

According to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, a judge allowed a motion to dismiss the firearm charges in late 2019.

This article originally appeared on Standard-Times: New Bedford shooting claims life of Fall River man