On the evening of March 27, 2017, Sina Zangiband, a 24-year-old man of Iranian descent, was working his job as a food delivery driver in Lynn, Massachusetts. He was driving his Hyundai when another car, an Audi, aggressively overtook him and forced him to pull over on Bowler Street, in front of the St. Pius V School. The driver of the Audi, later identified as 21-year-old Brian Brito, got out of his vehicle, approached Zangiband's car, and fired a semi-automatic handgun four or five times,
fatally wounding him. Zangiband was discovered in his car with his foot still on the brake.
Investigators quickly suspected the shooting was a result of road rage. Surveillance footage from the area captured the Audi, with New Hampshire license plates, overtaking Zangiband's vehicle. An off-duty firefighter witnessed the incident, further aiding the police in their investigation. A short time after the shooting, Brito was pulled over by Massachusetts State Police on Route 1 in Peabody in a car matching the description of the one seen at the crime scene. A loaded gun was found in his vehicle.
Brito's violent rampage did not end with the murder of Zangiband. Hours after the shooting, he robbed a convenience store in North Andover, where he also sexually assaulted the female clerk at gunpoint. He reportedly confessed to the clerk that he had just killed someone. Brito, a resident of Manchester, New Hampshire, was subsequently arrested and charged with first-degree murder, aggravated rape, armed robbery, and kidnapping.
In June 2023, after a trial that was delayed in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, Brian Brito was convicted of the first-degree murder of Mohammedreza "Sina" Zangiband. The jury found him guilty on all 12 counts related to his crime spree. The murder was described by police as a "brazen, senseless act." Zangiband, who was an aspiring pilot, was remembered by his family as a beloved son and brother.
