In the early morning hours of August 17, 2017, the city of New Bedford was disturbed by the sound of gunfire. At approximately 2:44 a.m., police responded to a notification from the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system in the vicinity of 1669 Acushnet Avenue, the location of the Whiskey Lounge. Upon their arrival, they discovered a Black/African American man, 33-year-old Marcus A. Roberts, lying in the street.
He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
Emergency responders quickly transported Roberts to St. Luke's Hospital. Due to the severity of his injuries, he was then transferred to Rhode Island Hospital, where he ultimately succumbed to his wounds and was pronounced dead. Witnesses at the scene reported seeing a white vehicle fleeing the area immediately after the shooting. The investigation into the death of Marcus A. Roberts was launched by New Bedford Police and Massachusetts State Police detectives.
Despite the ongoing investigation, no arrests have been made directly in connection with the murder of Marcus A. Roberts, and the case remains officially unsolved. A man named Carmelo Kercado, Jr. was later identified as a person of interest in Roberts's killing. This connection came to light during the investigation of a separate double homicide that occurred in October 2017. It was revealed in court that the motive for those murders was to silence a witness, Stephen Bodden, who was a friend of Roberts and had posted a video on social media vowing retribution for his death. While Kercado was convicted for the double homicide and sentenced to life in prison, he was never formally charged in the death of Marcus A. Roberts.
