Juan Bautista Mejia Arias, a 39-year-old man, was fatally shot on the evening of June 6, 2018, in Lawrence, Massachusetts. At approximately 6:20 p.m., police responded to reports of shots fired at the intersection of Hampshire and Alder Streets. Upon arrival, they discovered Mejia Arias suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. Despite efforts to save him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Witness accounts and video surveillance revealed a narrative of the tragic event.
Mejia Arias had just left a bodega on Hampshire and Alder Street after buying groceries. As he crossed the street, a black Hyundai Santa Fe with at least three occupants pulled up beside him. One individual reportedly exited the vehicle from the back and fired multiple shots, striking Mejia Arias. The vehicle, which was noted to have Pennsylvania license plates, then fled the scene.
The investigation into the murder of Juan Bautista Mejia Arias led to the identification of a suspect. Anderson Jorge Cruz, a 21-year-old from Lowell, was indicted by an Essex County Grand Jury for the murder in August 2019. At the time of his indictment, Cruz was already in federal custody on drug trafficking charges involving heroin and fentanyl, for which he had been arrested in January 2019.
In January 2020, Anderson Jorge Cruz was arraigned in Salem Superior Court in connection with the shooting death of Mejia Arias. He was ordered to be held without bail pending a pre-trial conference. The case then proceeded through the legal system.
