One man was killed, The Enterprise has learned, and another man was dropped off at a separate Brockton hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police are investigating the incidents as connected.
BROCKTON — Gunfire rang out in the city’s Campello section early Saturday morning, leaving one man dead, another injured and multiple houses punctured with bullet holes.
The Enterprise learned 31-year-old Marco Rodrigues was killed, marking the city's first homicide of the year.
Friends and family took to Facebook after the shooting to grieve the loss of Rodrigues. Friends say Rodrigues was a well-known disc jockey and concert promoter who performed at clubs in the area as DJ Marco Polo.
"He was a good person that died for nothing. He wasn't in the streets at all," said a friend of Rodrigues, who asked for his name to be withheld. "He was a good dude, a real family guy, loved his music and loved helping people. He was definitely a role model to a lot of kids in the streets."
Police found a body believed to be Rodrigues’ about 5 a.m. behind the shuttered Main Dragon restaurant on Main Street, though the Plymouth County district attorney’s office, which has jurisdiction over homicides in the city, hadn't released any information on the shooting as of press time.
Earlier on Saturday morning, at 1:47 a.m., police received a call reporting shots fired out of a vehicle on Grand Street.
Responding officers located shell casings near the intersection of Main and Grand streets before determining that at least four houses in the area had been struck by bullets. Neighbors estimate that more than 20 gunshots were fired on Grand Street early Saturday morning, including two that penetrated the window of a family with young children, though no injuries were reported at that address.
While officers were still on scene, police received notification that a victim arrived at the Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital emergency room with a gunshot wound. Police learned that a vehicle dropped the victim off in the parking lot, then fled east on Crescent Street, leaving the victim to walk into the hospital on his own.
The man, whose identity has not been released, is expected to survive his injuries.
Police received notification of a second gunshot victim, later identified as Rodrigues, at 5:02 a.m. from a man who called police to say his cousin was shot and possibly dead.
Two friends of Rodrigues, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, told The Enterprise that a family member attempted to call Rodrigues earlier that morning, only to hear a man pick up and say that Rodrigues’ body had been dumped behind Main Dragon.
Firefighters rushed to the scene and began performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the victim, who was rushed by ambulance to Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton with life-threatening injuries. But the The Enterprise learned he died at the hospital.
The Enterprise has also learned that detectives are investigating the two incidents as connected.
Friends of Rodrigues say the 31-year-old had two sons. Rodrigues’ mother and grandmother, who raised him, are both deceased. He is survived by his brother, Johnny, his friends said.
Rodrigues lived in Brockton, according to his friends.
No arrests had been made related to Saturday’s shooting as of press time. Police are reviewing security footage from businesses in the area.
The murder is the city’s first homicide of 2019, following nine last year. The shooting followed a recent spate of gunfire in the city.
On March 10, at 1:08 a.m., at least 19 gunshots were fired and three vehicles were damaged near 26 James St. The following day, at 6:04 p.m., detectives were on James Street following up on that shooting when they heard gunfire around the corner on Pine Avenue. Police located 14 shell casings, a live round and three more vehicles with damage from bullets. Police arrested two men that night in connection with the Pine Avenue shooting.