A 23-year-old New Bedford man is set to be sentenced Wednesday morning for gunning down a 27-year-old neighbor on County Street more than two years ago, closing out a case that began with a ShotSpotter alert and ended in a first-degree murder conviction. John Geovanni Pires Monteiro Macedo was found guilty on October 1 of first-degree murder by deliberate premeditation, along with related firearms offenses, in the killing of Amarito Fernandes.
Sentencing is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday in Fall River Superior Court, according to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office, as reported by WJAR. The hearing follows a jury's October 1 verdict in the same courthouse, which found Macedo guilty of deliberately planning the killing rather than acting in a sudden burst of violence.
How the County Street Shooting Unfolded
The case dates back to August 3, 2023, when Macedo approached a vehicle parked on County Street in New Bedford just after 11 p.m., according to WBSM. Fernandes was inside the vehicle at the time. Trial evidence showed Macedo pulled out a firearm and shot Fernandes several times as he tried to flee, the station reported.
Fernandes was taken by acquaintances to St. Luke's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving, per the same account. New Bedford police were alerted to the shooting through both a ShotSpotter notification and multiple 911 calls describing shots fired in the area, the station noted.
Surveillance Video and Prosecution
The Bristol County District Attorney's Office said video surveillance provided critical evidence in building the case against Macedo, according to WBSM's reporting. Assistant District Attorneys Tara Burdman and Catherine Sauter prosecuted the case, as reported by Fall River Reporter.
Under Massachusetts law, a conviction for first-degree murder carries a sentence of life in state prison, with the statute providing no parole eligibility except for a narrow exception written into the law itself, according to Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 265, Section 2.
A Second Homicide Case in Plymouth
Macedo also faces a separate murder and firearms case tied to the July 2023 death of another New Bedford man, Robert Aponte-Flores, 25, in Plymouth, Fall River Reporter reported. In that case, Macedo, then 20, pleaded not guilty to one count of murder and was held without bail, according to the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office.
That shooting took place at Myles Standish State Forest, and Aponte-Flores was pronounced dead at Beth Israel Deaconess-Plymouth Hospital, the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office said. Witnesses on scene described an altercation between Macedo and the victim in a park picnic area just before the shooting, according to the same office. Massachusetts State Police obtained an arrest warrant for Macedo on July 13, 2023, and he was taken into custody without incident at a New Bedford apartment, per the district attorney's account.
