New Bedford Fatal Shooter Identified After 33 Years: Bristol DA

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — Investigators have closed a 33-year-old cold case: the fatal shooting of a Rhode Island man that happened in New Bedford.

Authorities say Brent Davis, who was 20 at the time, was gunned down at the Brickenwood Housing Project in New Bedford by Claudio Jorge on Oct. 25, 1991. The Bristol County District Attorney's Office said Jorge has been "positively identified" as the shooter.

At the time of the homicide, witnesses identified the suspect as an individual named "Bobby." Investigators created a composite sketch and located two relatives of the suspect who were living in New Bedford. Those relatives claimed "Bobby" was also known as "Reynaldo Suriel" and that he was from New York City.

Further investigations determined that "Reynaldo Suriel" was likely an alias.

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Due to the unsuccessful attempts to locate the suspect, the case went cold. No arrests were made.

Investigators reviewed the 1991 reports again starting in 2020 and interviewed witnesses and individuals associated with the suspect. As a result, they learned that Davis had only been staying in New Bedford for a few days before his murder in 1991.

A witness told investigators that "Bobby" went to his girlfriend's apartment after the homicide, stating that Davis was dead and that he needed to get out of town.

Investigators say the homicide was the result of a drug distribution dispute.

"Bobby" was originally from the Dominican Republic and fled the city immediately after the killing of Davis.

Detectives made contact with close relatives of the suspect, who revealed that "Bobby," also known as "Reynaldo Suriel," was actually Claudio Jorge and that he had been killed in the Dominican Republic in 2006. He was 40 years old. Photographs of Jorge were also a match to the composite sketch produced in 1991.

The DA's office said Jorge had a lengthy criminal record with narcotics and weapons offenses. Jorge was incarcerated in New York in 1983 for an armed robbery and a shooting and in 1988 for narcotics and weapons offenses. In 1992 in New York, and was deported to the Dominican Republic in 1998.

The cold case has now officially been closed.

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