A man has admitted fatally shooting his son-in-law in front of his daughter and their three kids outside a New Bedford, Massachusetts, auto repair shop three years ago, prosecutors said.
After the Aug. 9, 2021, killing, Alphanso Richards fired at his daughter, who'd run to a gas station to call police, and then fled south before being arrested in Virginia, according to the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.
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Richards, 62, had been due to stand trial, but pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted assault and battery with a firearm. He was sentenced to 19 ½ years in prison for the first charge and eight to 10 years for the second.
"This is another senseless act of violence committed in broad daylight with total disregard for the safety of the victims and the public that have left three children without a father and impacted the family forever”, District Attorney Thomas Quinn said in a statement.
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Tiamara Michel-Brown saw Richards walk up to her husband, 23-year-old Naurik Michel-Brown, and saw Michel-Brown fall to the ground after the shooting outside the Car Tunes shop, where the family had driven to get a vehicle checked, prosecutors said. The deadly shooting and its aftermath were caught on surveillance video.
It wasn't until Oct. 10, 2021, that Richards was spotted driving on Interstate 95 in Virginia and pulled over, where his registered gun was found, according to prosecutors. It was found to be the murder weapon.
Authorities have said that Naurik Michel-Brown was rushed to St. Luke's Hospital in New Bedford, where he died from his injuries, and that initial attempts to find Richards were unsuccessful, leading them to issue a notice to police agencies in other states.