A Massachusetts man was sentenced to 20 years to life behind bars for the second-degree murder of Nathaniel Fabian following a dispute that escalated from cyberbullying to a deadly shooting in Lowell, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office. Timmy Chan, 21, was also convicted of firearms offenses related to the October 2021 incident.
Fabian, 20, was fatally shot after he tried to confront Chan over abusive online remarks targeted at his former girlfriend, a statement from Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said. "The tragic ending to this story was the direct result of two very prevalent phenomena - cyberbullying and illegal guns on the street," Ryan stated, according to the Middlesex District Attorney's Office.
The deadly encounter occurred on October 13, 2021, when Lowell Police were called to the scene at Loring Street and Westford Street at around 10:28 p.m. They found Fabian with a gunshot wound to his back that exited through his chest. Efforts to save him by emergency personnel were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at Lowell General Hospital.
An investigation involving interviews, phone records, and surveillance footage revealed that Fabian and several others, including Chan, were exchanging texts about the maligning posts before agreeing to meet on that fateful night. Upon arrival, as authorities reported, Chan opened fire, hitting Fabian before he fled, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
The case against Chan was prosecuted by Ashlee Mastrangelo and Christopher Tarrant. It resulted from a joint investigation by the Middlesex District Attorney's Office, the Massachusetts State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney's Office, and the Lowell Police Department.
