A Brockton man has been convicted of first-degree murder for gunning down a 24-year-old door-to-door solar salesman in 2022 after accusing him of trespassing on his turf, while a Rhode Island woman was convicted of helping him flee the state afterward. A Plymouth Superior Court jury reached the verdicts Wednesday, September 30, following a trial that laid out in harrowing detail how Brima Koroma tried to surrender and record his own killer before he was shot.
Koroma, a 24-year-old Boston resident, was working in Brockton on March 15, 2022, when he was directed to speak with Brendan Fernandes, who was working on a vehicle across the street, according to testimony reported by the Fall River Reporter. Witnesses testified that Fernandes yelled, “This is my turf, bro, this is my hood,” before threatening Koroma and eventually following him in a vehicle. As detailed in the indictment reviewed by the MassLive, the Plymouth County District Attorney's office said Brockton Police received multiple 911 calls reporting a shooting near 401 East Street that evening.
Koroma Tried to Surrender and Record the Confrontation
According to the Fall River Reporter's account of witness testimony, when Fernandes confronted Koroma with a gun on East Street, Koroma held up his hands and said, “I'm sorry, I'm sorry,” raising his phone as if to record the encounter. He was shot moments later, shortly before 5 p.m., and Fernandes bent over the fallen victim and stole his phone before fleeing. Police found Koroma with a single gunshot wound to his chest; he was taken to Brockton Hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Koroma was survived by his parents, Isata S. Sandy and Jeffrey Brima Koroma, along with four siblings, according to an obituary published by George Lopes Funeral Home in March 2022.
Fast Arrest Followed Overnight Flight to Virginia
Fernandes, now 37, fled Massachusetts with co-defendant Destiny Fontes-Silie, 30, of Warwick, Rhode Island, in a blue sedan after the shooting. Virginia State Police pulled the car over in Chesterfield, Virginia, around noon the next day, less than 24 hours after Koroma was killed, according to the indictment filed by the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office. The same office noted that at her April 2022 arraignment in Brockton, Fontes-Silie had her bail revoked on two pre-existing open criminal cases in addition to being held on the accessory charge.
The Wednesday verdicts found Fernandes guilty of first-degree murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card. Fontes-Silie was convicted of accessory after the fact to murder. Plymouth County District Attorney Tim Cruz said the pair were convicted for their roles in the fatal shooting, and a judge has scheduled sentencing for October 8.
Mandatory Life Sentence Awaits Fernandes
Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 265, Section 2(a), adult defendants convicted of first-degree murder face a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, according to the Serpa Law Office. State law leaves judges no discretion to offer parole eligibility in such cases, meaning Fernandes' sentence next week is effectively predetermined.
Fontes-Silie's accessory conviction carries a different range of exposure. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 274, Section 4, a conviction for accessory after the fact to murder carries a maximum penalty of up to seven years in state prison, up to two and a half years in a house of correction, or a fine of up to $1,000, according to the Worcester Criminal Defense Law Offices of Michael J. Brothers. That statute applies to anyone who assists a principal felon with the intent to help them evade arrest or trial. For context on how such cases have been handled elsewhere in the state, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office noted that a Massachusetts Superior Court judge sentenced a co-defendant who pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to murder to three to four years in state prison in November 2024, for driving a shooter away from a fatal incident in which the primary shooter received life imprisonment.
Brockton's Track Record on Homicide Cases
The resolution of Koroma's case comes against a backdrop of what city officials have described as a relatively strong local clearance rate for homicides. During a 2022 Brockton City Council Finance Committee meeting, Cruz stated that homicide clearance rates in Brockton typically range between 80% and 85%, and he highlighted community reporting as a key driver of those outcomes, according to minutes kept by the City of Brockton.
The case is one of several recent Plymouth Superior Court homicide prosecutions Hoodline has followed in Brockton, including coverage of two men held in a GPS-linked killing and a separate case in which the state's highest court ordered a new trial for a different Brockton murder conviction.
