UPDATED

Drive-by shooting on Cromesett leads to arrests, search

Sep 27, 2010

Note: 4th suspect turned himself in on Oct. 12 -- see story.

Three individuals have been arrested but two suspects remain at large in connection with a drive-by shooting that occurred in the Cromesett neighborhood early last Saturday afternoon.

William Black, 20, and Andrew Booker, 21, are both being sought in connection with the incidents and are considered armed and dangerous.  Police described both as black males with brown eyes and black hair.  Black is six-feet tall and weighs 195 pounds.  Booker is six-foot-three-inches tall and 145 pounds.

Police request that anybody with information on these individuals' whereabouts contact Wareham Police at 508-295-1212 or the Anonymous Tip Line at 508-291-2300.

Three individuals connected with the case appeared in Wareham 4th District Court on Monday.

Rachel Tavares, 26, of 8 Pine Ridge Rd. in Buzzards Bay, and Matthew Watterson, 20, of # 288 Onset Ave. in Onset, were both arrested about half an hour after the incident occurred.  Witnesses to the shooting identified the car, a tan Nissan Altima with a distinct dent in the trunk,  they were driving as involved in the crime.  Both Tavares and Watterson are charged with numerous counts of assault with attempt to murder.

Tavares was released on $2,500 cash bail and will next appear in court on October 10.  Attorney Jack Atwood argued that there was no concrete evidence placing Tavares, who is alleged to have been driving the car during the incident, at the scene of the crime.

Witnesses positively identified other occupants of the vehicles (Watterson upon his arrest and Black and Booker were recognized by one of the witnesses) but not Tavares.  The driver and lone woman in the car could only be described as wearing sunglasses and with long hair in a pony tail.

Watterson, however, was positively identified by a witness upon arrest. He was ordered held pending a dangerousness hearing within three-to-five days and his bail was also set at $2,500 cash.

Judge Christopher Welsh noted Watterson's "very long record" in making the decision.  Past incidences include a conviction of drug distribution, as well as drug possession charges stemming from an arrest a month ago.  Tavares was also arrested in that August incident for driving with a suspended license and a default warrant.

Dominic Rezendes, 20, of 20 Terry Lane East, Wareham, was arrested on Sunday night with a .45 caliber handgun that police believe was used in the incident.  According to court testimony, he was arrested after police surveillance observed him and three other individuals put a wrapped package in a car and then drive away from a unit in the Depot Crossing apartment complex.  None of the other passengers were arrested after they identified Rezendes as the owner of the package, which contained a gun wrapped in a flannel cloth and stuffed inside a white sneaker.

Rezendes  was arraigned in Wareham 4th District Court Monday morning on charges of carrying a firearm without a license and possession of ammunition without a Federal I.D. card. He was detained pending a dangerousness hearing and bail was set at $2,500 cash.

Nobody was harmed in the shooting, but neighbors who witnessed the event were shaken up by the brazenness of the incident.

"We spent a long time to save up for this house, to live by the water in what we thought was a nice neighborhood," said one neighbor who witnessed the event.  "You don't think that this will happen here.  There were kids, neighbors out in their yards, people walking dogs.  Everybody saw it."

According to police, the incident occurred at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.  Eyewitnesses said, and police confirmed, that a tan Nissan Altima with five people inside abruptly slammed on the brakes in front of 60 Cromesett Rd, and six shots were fired into vehicles in the home's driveway.

Witnesses said the car then pulled into the targeted home's driveway, turned around, and sped off down Cromesett Road towards Cranberry Highway.

"I don't know if they were stupid or what," said one eyewitness, who said that every witness could immediately identify the car.

Other eyewitnesses told police that the car then pulled into the neighborhood accessed by Terry Lane, and that at least one individual, believed to be the shooter, was dropped off along with the gun.

Police said that the investigations are ongoing and "further arrests are expected," in a press release.  It is unclear whether there was a single gun involved in the incident, as the police report noted that shots were fired out both the rear passenger-side and rear driver-side window.

Around 2 p.m. police had stopped a car matching a description of that used in the incident, on Rt. 6, Marion Road, at the corner of Burr Parkway where Tavares, the driver, and Watterson were arrested.

Members of the household apparently targeted in the shooting refused to comment, but neighbors said that they had heard that the motivation was a dispute among teenagers.  During the arraignment, the district attorney said that they believed that the event was "retaliation" but did not specify further.

Neighbors were nevertheless shocked that it had escalated to such violence, however.

"They seemed like okay kids," said one neighbor of the residents in the targeted house on Cromesett Road. "They got into mischief, but it was nothing that every kid doesn't get into."

Another neighbor said that they had never had problems with the household targeted in the incident.  They were very shaken up, however, characterizing their reaction to the event with one word: "scared."