HARTFORD, Conn. — A man charged in connection with the drive-by killings of a Massachusetts mother and her infant son in Connecticut opened fire over a $400 debt, according to a newly released arrest warrant.
New details on a motive in the deadly double shooting were revealed Monday as Lance Morales, 23, of Waterbury, Connecticut, was ordered held on $5 million bail, the Associated Press reported.
Morales is charged with two counts of murder, assault, and other crimes in the deaths of 20-year-old Jessiah Mercado and her 4-month-old boy, Messiah Diaz, both of Springfield, Massachusetts, in Hartford, Connecticut, on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024.
In broad daylight, Morales pulled up next to a vehicle that Mercado and Diaz were riding in on New Britain Avenue and opened fire, according to police. Mercado warned Morales that her baby was with her, but he allegedly replied, “I don’t care,” a witness quoted in the arrest warrant said, according to the AP report.
The arrest warrant reportedly stated that Mercado was renting a Mazda SUV from Morales for $100 a day, however, she fell behind on the payments and owed him $400.
A third shooting victim, a male in his 20s, suffered a non-life-threatening gunshot wound during the drive-by. The driver of the vehicle was uninjured.
The Hartford Police Department announced days after the incident that U.S. Marshals found Morales in Puerto Rico and arrested him.
Morales’ lawyer on Monday told the court that his client could not afford to post the $5 million bail.
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