In the early morning hours of November 4, 2012, a dispute that began over entry to a house party in Lawrence, Massachusetts, tragically escalated, ending the life of 18-year-old Richard Bonilla of Lowell. Known to his friends as "Chi-chi," the young man was attending a party on Broadway Avenue when an argument erupted after three women were denied access.
The verbal altercation spilled outside and turned violent.
In the ensuing chaos, Ismael Calixto, who was 20 years old at the time, began firing a gun into a parking lot across the street from the party. As people scattered, Bonilla attempted to flee the scene. It was then that Calixto shot him in the back of the head. Police found Bonilla around 1 a.m. in the area of 400 Broadway. He was rushed to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he succumbed to his injuries later that day.
The investigation led by the Massachusetts State Police and the Lawrence Police Department identified Ismael Calixto as the shooter. At the time of the fatal shooting, Calixto was already in the custody of the Department of Youth Services for prior gun charges and was supposed to be at home under a curfew.
Following a two-and-a-half-week trial, a jury in Salem Superior Court found Ismael Calixto guilty of second-degree murder in March 2015. Evidence presented by the prosecution demonstrated that Calixto had fired multiple shots into the parking lot before fatally wounding Bonilla as he ran away. For his actions, Calixto was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
