A Suffolk County prosecutor today told a Superior Court jury in an opening statement that an 18-year-old Rhode Island man was shot and killed in 2006 while in town for the weekend visiting relatives – one of whom was a gang member and a “marked man”.

“This case is about the cold-blooded, senseless shooting death of 18-year-old Guiliardo Rodrigues on April 1, 2006 on Draper Street in Dorchester; a shooting death in an ongoing feud between a street gang that the defendant was a member of, and another gang based on Draper Street,” Assistant District Attorney Mark Hallal said at the start of MANUEL “JUNIOR” DASILVA’s first-degree murder trial.

In addition to Rodrigues’ murder, Dasilva (D.O.B. 10/28/87) is also charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon for shooting at the victim’s relative and a mutual friend, unlawful possession of ammunition, and carrying a loaded firearm.

Hallal, chief of Conley’s Senior Trial Unit, told the court that shortly before 6:30 a.m., Rodrigues was socializing with the relative and a mutual friend on the sidewalk near 122 Draper St. Rodrigues was staying with that relative for the weekend. Unfortunately for Rodrigues, Hallal said, that relative was “the main member, at that time, of the Draper Street gang,” and a “well-known marked man.”

At that time, Hallal said, Dasilva and two passengers pulled up in a black Nissan Murano and began to engage the victim’s relative in a conversation. At some point during this conversation, Hallal told the court, Dasilva and a passenger exited the vehicle, brandished 9 millimeter semiautomatic handguns, and began firing “no fewer than 11 shots” at the three men “who were standing defenseless in front of 122 Draper St.,” Hallal said.

The relative ran into 122 Draper St. and “essentially barricaded himself in, leaving both [the other victim] and Rodrigues outside to fend for themselves,” Hallal said. The two victims fled from the shooters, and ran down Draper Street towards Bowdoin Street, “trying to get away from the gunshots being fired by the defendant and his passenger,” the prosecutor said.

Rodrigues and the other victim split up and veered down different streets, Hallal said. The other victim went left, while Rodrigues went right onto Mount Ida Road. Eventually, Dasilva and his passenger got back into the Nissan Murano and drove away leaving shell casings “all over Draper Street,” Hallal said.
At some point during the shooting, Rodrigues was struck by a bullet. That bullet went through the victim’s back and through his “liver, kidney, stomach and lodging in his heart, ultimately killing him,” Hallal said.

In the minutes after the shooting, Hallal said, Rodrigues made a call to friends telling them that something was going on at Draper Street; his friends and family, worried for his safety, attempted to call his cell phone, and made other efforts to locate him. After days passed and they were still unable to find him, the victim’s family filed a missing person report with the Boston Police Department.

“The family was in a state of absolute panic, trying to find out whether or not he’d been hit,” Hallal said. Together with Boston Police officers, the family “searched immediate areas to try to find Guiliardo Rodrigues, but they were unable to do so.”

Boston Police officers who responded to the scene shortly after the shooting discovered multiple shell casing in the vicinity of 122 Draper St. and gunshot damage to a vehicle parked in front of that address.

On April 4, 2006, Hallal said, Dasilva was arrested in possession of a 9 millimeter firearm. The firearm he was carrying when Boston Police arrested him was subsequently matched to five or six of the shell casings present on Draper Street after the shooting.

On April 7, 2006, Rodrigues’ body was found in bushes near Mount Ida Road not far from Draper Street. He was pronounced dead at the scene and Hallal said that the Medical Examiner’s office concluded that he died of a gunshot wound to his back.

The vehicle used in the shooting was identified as being registered to Dasilva’s father, Hallal told the court. Dasilva allegedly made statements to police admitting that he drove that vehicle to Draper Street with others in the vehicle and fired a number of shots.

Dasilva is represented by attorney Michael Doolin. Proceedings are ongoing in courtroom 806 before Superior Court Judge Regina Quinlan.