Two Fall River men have pleaded guilty and been sentenced for firing shots into a Taunton apartment while adults and children were inside.
Filizberto Mendes, 35, and Erron Perez, 31, pleaded guilty in Fall River Superior Court to five counts of attempted assault and battery by discharge of a firearm and unlawful carrying of a firearm.
Mendes was sentenced to three to four years in state prison, while Perez received 2½ years in the House of Correction, with 18 months to serve and the remainder suspended for two years.
The shooting happened on Feb. 10, 2023. A Massachusetts State Police trooper conducting a traffic stop in Taunton heard what he believed was a gunshot, followed by seven more shots several minutes later.
The trooper soon spotted a Subaru Legacy matching the vehicle he had seen earlier. The driver, Perez, allegedly drove through a stop sign, and police stopped the vehicle. Mendes was sitting in the front passenger seat.
Officers found a 9mm Ruger semi-automatic handgun beneath the passenger seat. Neither man had a license to possess or carry the firearm.
Meanwhile, police were dispatched to a nearby Meadow Place apartment, where residents reported that gunfire had been directed through a window while they were sleeping with several young children inside.
Investigators found ballistic damage inside the apartment and recovered several spent 9mm shell casings. Although gunshot residue tests on both men’s hands were negative, residue was found on Mendes’ sweatshirt.
State police later determined that the shell casings recovered from the apartment had been fired from the handgun found beneath Mendes’ seat, prosecutors said.
An older child in the apartment had reportedly received a threatening phone call earlier that day, which he believed was connected to his involvement with a woman from Fall River.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of four to six years for Mendes and 2½ to four years in state prison for Perez.
Both men also had pending drug conspiracy cases at the time of the shooting and received probation in those cases.
