On the late evening of May 24, 2019, a 32-year-old Black man named Earl Thomas of New Bedford was in a parking lot on Highland Street in Brockton, Massachusetts. Just before 11:30 p.m., the city's automated gunshot detection system was triggered, and several 911 calls reported a shooting. When police and emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene, they discovered Thomas suffering from four gunshot wounds. He was rushed to Good Samaritan Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Thomas was a father of three and worked as a skilled union mason and stone restorer.
The investigation into the homicide quickly pointed toward a suspect. Authorities identified 29-year-old Queito Miranda of Brockton as the man responsible for the shooting. The incident reportedly stemmed from an altercation between Thomas and another individual who was with Miranda. Following the fight, Miranda fired several shots at Thomas. An arrest warrant was issued, and a collaborative effort between the Massachusetts State Police, Brockton Police, and the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office led them to Worcester. Two days after the fatal shooting, on May 26, 2019, Queito Miranda was located and taken into custody.
Following his arrest, Miranda was charged with murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, and being an armed career criminal, a charge stemming from a previous conviction for heroin trafficking in 2016. In August 2019, a Plymouth County Grand Jury indicted him on these charges. The case proceeded through the legal system, and in October 2022, a jury found Queito Miranda guilty of second-degree murder, as well as the related firearms charges. Later that month, he was sentenced to serve 20 years to life in state prison for the murder of Earl Thomas.
