INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Grandmother Shot While Laying In Bed On July 4th — Accused Shooters Are Illegal Immigrants

By Antonio J. Newell
Published on: 07:13 PST, Jul 21, 2015

After enjoying Independence Day, a grandmother was shot as she lay in bed. The bullet came from her upstairs neighbors, who were reported to be illegal immigrants.

The 41-year-old grandmother and nurse, Mirta Rivera, was from Lawrence, Massachusetts — part of Essex County. In 2012, Boston Magazine labeled Lawrence “The City of the Damned” due to its conditions, including soaring crime rates. Unfortunately, it proved true for Rivera.

As the grandmother slept in her bed on July 4th, a bullet stripped through her ceiling and hit her. Since the investigation began, the bullet found from Mirta’s mattress matches the.270 bolt-action rifle which was found in the suspects’ apartment as reported by the Boston Herald. While there are two prime suspects, there is also a third suspect, according to the Herald.

“Lara-Mejia, Lara-Calmona and Christopher Paganmoux, 22, who all live on the second floor above Rivera on Exchange Street, were charged with trafficking heroin and cocaine after police said they found drugs as well as a ‘clear and obvious’ rifle bullet hole in Lara-Mejia’s second-floor bedroom, according to police records.”

“Police arrived at 4:26 a.m. at the home of Rivera to find her ‘lying supine on the bed, pulseless, not breathing, eyes fixed front, staring straight at the ceiling’, wrote Lawrence police officer Frank Bradley.”

“Bradley quickly found a hole in the ceiling above her with ‘plaster hanging down’. Bradley then burst into the apartment upstairs, where ‘the smell of fresh burnt gunpowder was strong and evident’ and rounded up the three suspects from their bedrooms.”

As for the accused shooters — Wilton Lara-Calmona, 38, and Jose M. Lara-Mejia, 35 — Fox News reports that the two suspects have already been deported. However, it’s not the first time they’ve been removed from the United States. They’re Dominican Republic nationals and have a lengthy history of sneaking into the U.S.

Unfortunately, the grandmother’s shooters aren’t only illegal immigrants. According to Customs and Immigration Enforcement, at least one is also an ICE. fugitive. The Boston Herald stated, “ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer confirmed that Lara-Mejia ‘was ordered removed by a federal immigration judge on April 9, 2014, after failing to appear before the immigration court. He was considered an ICE fugitive until his July 4, 2015, arrest by local authorities in Lawrence, Massachusetts.'”

Despite the fact that Mirta Rivera was killed by a bullet fired through the floor of the apartment the two suspects occupied, their lawyers are maintaining that their clients aren’t necessarily responsible for the shooting or have any connection to Grandmother Rivera’s death.

What are your thoughts about the two illegal immigrant’s being deported while they were under suspicion for a murder committed in the United States.? Should the two men have been held and tried for their alleged involvement the murder?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

[Photo Credits: Facebook/Twitter]

Share this article: Grandmother Shot While Laying In Bed On July 4th — Accused Shooters Are Illegal Immigrants
More from Inquisitr