New Bedford Man Convicted of Second-Degree Murder of Brad Lourenco

NEW BEDFORD (WBSM) — A New Bedford gang member was convicted of murder last week in the 2017 killing of Brad Lourenco.

Ivan Fontanez, 26, was convicted by a jury of his peers on November 17 on a second-degree murder charge as well as on a charges of carrying an illegal firearm and carrying an illegal loaded firearm.

The charges date back to June 5, 2017, when Fontanez and Keeland Rose pointed a firearm into a group of individuals in Clemont Park and fired it nine times.

One of the shots struck and killed the 18-year-old Lourenco, an aspiring rapper known as "Young Bank$," after it was fired in the back of his head.

Lourenco had recently been arrested himself twice in 24 hours just two weeks prior to his murder.

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Fontanez and Rose fled the scene while chased by South End gang members. They both crossed over Route 18, where they hid the murder weapon on the bridge and discarded their clothing in a dumpster. Officials said DNA determined that the clothing belonged to Fontanez and Rose.

Both suspects attempted to flee the chase by jumping in the back of a pickup truck. They agrabbed hand tools from the pickup truck in an attempt to defend themselves until police apprehended them shortly after.

Fontanez will be sentenced in Fall River Superior Court on November 27.

"The shooting was likely the result of an ongoing feud between rival gangs in New Bedford and was in retaliation to an incident that occurred about a week before the homicide involving the non-fatal shooting of Fontanez's half-brother," District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn said.

Rose also pled guilty to a charge of accessory to murder in 2019 and was sentenced to serve three to six years in state prison.