ITEM PHOTO BY DAVID WILSON
A crowd begins to form behind the police tape at the intersection of Bowler and Pond streets.
LYNN — A man arrested by Massachusetts State Police while driving a car sought in connection with Monday’s fatal shooting in Lynn was ordered held without bail following a court appearance Tuesday.
Police said Brian Brito, 21, of Manchester, New Hampshire, was driving the gray Audi that was the subject of a police alert broadcast after a 24-year-old pizza deliveryman was shot to death on Bowler Street around 6 p.m. Monday.
The victim, a driver for Atha’s Famous Roast Beef on Boston Street, was found deceased in his vehicle. He had been shot multiple times, according to the Essex District Attorney’s office. His name had not been released by authorities as of noon Tuesday.
Police pulled over Brito around four hours after the shooting and found, according to a state police statement, an illegal firearm in his possession. Police quickly linked Brito to the description of a suspect wanted by North Andover police in connection with an armed robbery and sexual assault in that community less than an hour before police pulled Brito over.
North Andover officers responding to a Richdale store were told by a female clerk that a man entered the store with his face concealed with a mask, and brandishing a firearm. The man ordered the clerk at gunpoint to lock the doors, and took her to a back room where she was sexually assaulted, police said. The man then emptied the cash drawer and took numerous lottery tickets before fleeing the scene in an unknown direction, according to a police statement.
North Andover police issued an arrest warrant for armed robbery while masked, aggravated rape and kidnapping. Brito will be arraigned in Lawrence at a later date on those charges.
Brito was arraigned in Peabody District Court on charges filed by state police, including carrying an unlicensed firearm and motor vehicle charges.
A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf and Judge Richard Mori ordered Brito held until April 10 when he will again appear in court for a dangerousness hearing.
The shooting death is under investigation by the DA’s office, the Essex State Police Detective Unit and the Lynn Police Department.