A reported breaking-and-entering on Park Street in Marlborough led to a police pursuit and a regional search Thursday morning, ending with three men from New Jersey under arrest, a handgun recovered, and a fourth suspect still unaccounted for. Police said officers responded to the scene shortly after 11 a.m. after getting word that four people had fled the area in a gold Chevrolet Malibu.
According to Boston 25 News, officers shared a description of the vehicle and its occupants with surrounding departments after responding to the Park Street call. Marlborough police then located a car matching that description on Lakeside Avenue and tried to make a stop, but officers said the Malibu took off instead, eventually driving onto Route 495 before entering the median near Route 9.
Suspects Ditch the Car and Run on Foot
Police said the suspects abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot. That set off a coordinated search involving Massachusetts State Police along with the Westborough, Hopkinton, and Southborough police departments, all of whom joined Marlborough officers in combing the area for the four people who had run from the Malibu.
The search paid off for three of them. Officers located and took into custody 30-year-old Vinicious de OliveiraSousa of Long Beach, New Jersey, along with 25-year-old Victor Bontempo de Melo and 26-year-old Luiz de Oliveira, both of New Branch, New Jersey. Police said a fourth suspect remains at large. The three who were caught were transported to the Marlborough Police Department for booking, the station's report notes.
Handgun and Property Believed Taken From a Marlborough Home Recovered From the Car
Authorities searched the Malibu after the suspects scattered and said they seized a handgun from inside, along with property believed to have been taken from a Marlborough home.
Boston 25 News says the incident remains under investigation. No additional details on potential charges or the search for the outstanding fourth suspect have been released.
The handgun’s recovery also raises a separate legal question: Massachusetts law generally bars knowingly possessing or controlling a firearm in a vehicle without an applicable license or statutory exemption. Police have not said who, if anyone, had control of the gun, whether anyone was licensed, or whether a firearm-possession charge will be filed.
Massachusetts law distinguishes breaking-and-entering offenses by the circumstances. For example, Chapter 266, Section 18 covers entering a dwelling at night without breaking and certain daytime break-ins, and sets a separate penalty when an offense covered by the section is committed while armed with a firearm. Police have not described the home or the alleged entry in enough detail to determine which statute, if any, could apply.
