Worcester: Defendant and alleged accessory in Shannon Street slaying of teen in court
WORCESTER — A 21-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman were in court Monday in connection with the fatal shooting of a teenager on Shannon Street earlier this month.
Kidam Oquendo of 11 Wawecus Road, Apt. 2, Worcester, and Alexis Medeiros, of Gardner, who also has an apartment on Chandler Street in Worcester, were arrested Friday night, according to Worcester police.
They were described in court as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Both were arraigned Monday in Worcester Central District Court. The motive for the shooting remains unclear.
Investigators pursued leads after a 17-year-old male was gunned down at 14 Shannon St. the morning of Feb. 12. Police have not released the name of the victim.
The suspects were located by Worcester investigators and members of the State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Squad.
Oquendo is charged with assault to murder, attempted assault and battery with a firearm, having a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license and possession of ammunition without an FID card.
Medeiros is charged with accessory after the fact and obstruction of justice.
Assistant Worcester District Attorney Shayna L. Woodard told the court Monday that Oquendo was identified as one of the individuals involved in the shootout Feb. 12 on Shannon Street. He was also identified as possessing a firearm, Woodard said.
According to surveillance video reviewed by police, Oquendo was in possession of a firearm about the time of the killing, court records show. He was seen firing multiple times on the street and shell casings were recovered around where he was standing, according to Officer Ryan Stone’s police report, filed with court records. Oquendo was identified with the help of a license plate reader and video surveillance, the police report states.
In July, Oquendo was charged with possession of a loaded machine gun and possession of a large-capacity firearm, among other charges. In November, he was indicted in Superior Court and Judge Janet Kenton-Walker set bail at $15,000 cash.
Monday, Judge Timothy M. Bibaud ordered Oquendo be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing March 4. In addition, Bibaud revoked Oquendo’s probation on the 2023 Superior Court case. Rachel M. Carco served as the attorney for the defense during Oquendo’s arraignment.
Medeiros was arraigned shortly before Oquendo, her boyfriend of three months.
About 3:30 a.m. Feb. 12, officers were alerted to gunshots by the ShotSpotter system. A short time after police arrived at 14 Shannon St., a man with a gunshot wound to his chest was dropped off at Saint Vincent Hospital, according to court records. Hospital security footage showed two men with masks dropping the victim at the hospital. The vehicle they used, a gray Honda Accord, was registered to Medeiros, according to Stone’s report.
Later, when talking to investigators, Medeiros told police she is the only one who drives her car. She also told police that she hadn’t talked to Oquendo in three months, according to the police report. Medeiros told police that on Feb. 11, she went to her aunt’s house in Great Brook Valley to watch the Super Bowl. She said she left around midnight and went directly home and went to bed, the police report states.
She denied involvement, saying she was asleep, something police would eventually doubt.
"These statements by Alexis resulted in police wasting valuable time in a murder investigation having to check her false statements," police wrote in a report.
Woodard recommended that bail for Medeiros be set at $20,000, with bail conditions of home confinement and no contact with the victim’s family or the codefendant.
Michael S. Hussey, the attorney for the defense, argued that Medeiros should be released on her own personal recognizance and placed under house arrest. He said his client has no prior record and is a recent Worcester Vocational High School graduate.
Judge Bibaud set Medeiros’s bail at $2,500. If she makes bail, she would be put under house arrest with a monitoring device, Bibaud said. A probable cause hearing for Medeiros is slated for March 28.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Defendant, alleged accessory in Shannon St. slaying of teen in court
