NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- Authorities have arrested six people and are looking for another suspect after a recent string of shootings, some of which were connected.
On April 13, police said one group of teenagers shot at another group of teens on Bluefield Street. A wayward bullet missed a 5-year-old boy in his bedroom.
The bullet that went through the boy's window was one of two shootings in the same day, with 16-year-olds allegedly pulling the trigger in both cases. Investigators said they think the shooting on Bluefield Street may have been in retaliation for the other shooting.
"There is zero tolerance in the district attorney's office and in the city of New Bedford for illegal firearms and gun violence," said Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter.
One of the 16-year-olds arrested for shooting through the window is accused of two other crimes committed in the same week. Police said he shot someone else in the backside, and along with three other people, robbed and beat someone else with a brick and a bottle.
In an unrelated incident, police are looking for Claudio Amado in connection with a shooting over the weekend, where two people apparently shot at each other but missed. One other person has been arrested in that case.
"Our community has stepped up like never before," said New Bedford Mayor Scott Lang. "The idea that we have had this discharging of 11 shots in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon and these two individuals thought that they'd be walking out of New Bedford and getting away with it is a folly."
Sutter touted his crime fighting measures - dangerousness hearings and mandatory minimum sentence requests for gun offenders.
"We're going to bring all of the resources of the police department and the district attorney's office to find out who you are," he said. "We're going to build probable cause and we're going to arrest you. We're going to prosecute you."
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