On the night of January 10, 2020, 24-year-old James Wade and his father, 45-year-old James "Manny" Wade, traveled to the parking lot of the Pelham Apartments on Second Street in their hometown of Framingham, Massachusetts. The male victim, James Wade Jr., and his father had arranged to meet someone they knew in this area, a place police later noted was known for drug activity. Before any meeting could take place, their arrival was met with a sudden and violent ambush.
A man opened fire on the two, unleashing a barrage of bullets. The younger James Wade died there in the parking lot from his wounds.
His father, later found to have been shot 19 times, was rushed to MetroWest Medical Center but succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead. The shooting was so reckless that one of the bullets traveled through the door of a nearby apartment, ricocheting into a room where a four-year-old child was sleeping. The investigation into the double homicide quickly pointed to a suspect. Four days later, law enforcement located and arrested 39-year-old Aneudy Delgado-Torres at a hotel in the neighboring city of Marlborough. Family members were shocked by the event, describing the younger James as a hard worker who had been employed at MIT for six years and was not a "street thug."
Delgado-Torres, who had a significant prior criminal record, was charged with two counts of murder as well as several weapons charges, including possession of a large-capacity magazine. At his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty and was ordered to be held without bail. While the exact relationship between the victims and the suspect remained part of the ongoing investigation, authorities stated that the motive was likely connected to a recent and ongoing competition between drug sellers for control of that specific area.
