Brockton Man Held Without Bail, Faces Murder Charge

By Lisa E. Crowley
BrocktonPost
BROCKTON—A 19-year-old Brockton man was held without bail on a murder charge after witnesses told police he was “shooting wildly” near the Mount Moriah Baptist Church near Main and Court Streets where Jennifer Rodriques Teixeira, 51, was found by police shot in the back with a .45 cabliber handgun.
Frank Webb, 19, of Brockton was charged with murdering Teixeira, a regular parishioner at the Mount Moriah Church and who was going home from the church when shots rang out unexpectedly, and needlessly took her life.
Her daughter Melissa, who tearfully told reporters today, Monday, June 13, is her 28th birthday, that there is no reason for her mother not to share in her birthday.
“My mother did not deserve this,” Teixeira said. “She was an innocent by-stander. This community has come to trash,” she said.
Teixera said her mother has no connection to Webb and said Webb was “pitiful” as he tried to remain behind an enclosure instead of showing his face in front of her family and the media.
“My mother’s my best friend…I just hope justice is served,” Teixeira said. “You take a life—you deserve your life taken,” she said.
Teixeira said her mother was a church-going woman who would help anyone.
"She was a loving lady," she said.
Plymouth County District Timothy Cruz said Teixeira’s shooting has little motive and makes little sense.
“It was the wrong place at the wrong time,” Cruz said.
During Webb’s arraignment in Brockton District Court this morning Assistant District Attorney Peter Maguire said Webb, and another suspect, Antoine Hamilton, of Brockton became involved in an argument at an area store that escalated into punching and then gunfire.
Maguire said witnesses identified Webb as wearing a red-hooded jacket and “shooting wildly with a handgun in the middle of Main Street” at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday, June 11.
Maguire said police were alerted to the shooting at about 1:45 p.m. Saturday by “shot-spotter,” a device installed at various locations across the city designed to hear gun shots.
Police arrived on the scene to find Teixeira on the sidewalk in a pool of blood near the church. She was taken to Brockton Hospital where she was pronounced dead a short time later.
Another witness observed Webb take the red-hooded sweatshirt off and hide a gun behind shrubs near the crime scene.
Maguire said police have four witnesses who have identified Webb and Hamilton as suspects in Saturday’s shooting and that police found two .45 caliber casings in the street near the shooting and another bullet in a wall on the Pleasant Street side of 1 Main Street.
Maguire said the Medical Examiner has concluded Teixeira died from a gunshot to the back.
Maguire asked Judge Richard Savignano to impound, or make confidential, police reports and any information that would identify witnesses in the case because they are in jeopardy. Maguire also asked for no bail because Webb is facing charges in two pending cocaine distribution cases.
James Murphy, Webb’s lawyer said the case is a matter of identification and sometimes witness observations are subject to mistakes and inaccuracies.
Murphy asked the judge to allow $100,000 bail and to keep police reports and witness information public.
Murphy said Webb has not been convicted of a crime and is in a GED program at Massasoit Community College. Murphy said Webb has lived in Brockton for seven years with his father, mother and four siblings.
Savignano rejected Murphy’s request and Webb was ordered held without bail. Police reports and witness information will remain confidential.
Webb is expected back in court for a probable cause hearing July 8.