New Bedford man convicted after firing illegal gun toward group of witnesses

January 31, 2019 1:16 pm

By News Staff

Email: news@abc6.com

Twitter: @ABC6

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WLNE) – An 18-year-old man has been convicted on half a dozen charges after discharging an illegal firearm outside of a New Bedford home in 2017.

Joelle Perez, 18, was found guilty of carrying an illegal firearm as well as five counts of attempted assault and battery by discharge of a firearm.

In March of 2017, Perez, who was 17 at the time, joined a group of associates in confronting several witnesses to a separate crime outside a home on Thompson Street.

Perez and his associates threatened the witnesses verbally while brandishing knives.

The DA’s office said at one point in the altercation, Perez fired shots in the general vicinity of the witnesses. One bullet struck the foundation of the home, causing a fragment to strike the mother of a witness.

Perez was tried as an adult and convicted. He is to remain under a curfew until he is sentenced on March 1st.