On the evening of December 13, 2020, a young Black / African American man named Storlen Webster, 22, along with two acquaintances, drove to a home on Ellis Street in Boston's Hyde Park neighborhood. Their purpose was to buy marijuana from a man named Emmanuel Maldonado. The transaction, however, took a fatal turn. After Webster and one of his friends got out of their car to interact with Maldonado, he allegedly fired a gun, striking Webster in the abdomen.
As chaos erupted, Webster and
his friend scrambled back to their vehicle in a desperate attempt to escape. The danger was not over, as Maldonado allegedly continued to shoot at the fleeing car. The relentless gunfire disabled the vehicle, forcing its occupants to abandon it and run for their lives. Webster, grievously wounded, could only make it a short distance before he collapsed. He was later transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead from his gunshot wounds.
The investigation into the shooting continued for several months. On March 31, 2021, a Suffolk County grand jury returned indictments against Emmanuel Maldonado for the murder. Members of the Boston Police Department's Fugitive Unit located and arrested the 21-year-old suspect on May 7, 2021, at a residence in Mattapan.
Following his arrest, Emmanuel Maldonado was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court. He faced charges of second-degree murder, three counts of armed assault with intent to murder, and single counts of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition. At his arraignment, a judge ordered him to be held without bail while his case proceeds through the legal system.
