Road Rage Possible Reason for Salem Man's Murder

LYNN, MA - A New Hampshire man is being held without bail after an alleged road-rage incident Monday in Lynn that left a 23-year-old pizza delivery man from Salem dead after being shot point-blank in the head as he sat in his car.

In Lynn District Court on Thursday, Judge James LaMothe ordered Brian G. Brito, 31, of 543 Lincoln St., Apt 38, of Manchester, N.H. held without bail after he pleaded not guilty to the murder of 24-year-old Mohammadreza "Sina" Zangiband of Salem.

Zangiband's sister, her eyes red from crying, her husband and a family friend attended the arraignment, then left declining comment.

During the arraignment, Brito stood behind a chalk board to hide his face from the throng of media that filled the courtroom. His defense attorney Rebecca Epstein Whitehill said identification will likely be an issue in the Lynn murder case and a related North Andover armed robbery and rape case for which he will be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court.

Whitehill was also allowed up to $5,000 in state funds to hire a psychologist to evaluate Brito.

Brito is scheduled for a May 3 probable-cause hearing

In court documents, State Police explained that just before 6 p.m. on Monday, Lynn police responded to the area of 29 Bowler St. for a report of shots fired and the window of a car being shot out. When officers arrived at the scene they found a 2012 Hyundai Sonata off to the side of the road in front of the Saint Pius V School.

Inside the car, police found Zangiband bleeding heavily from at least one gunshot to the head. Zangiband, a hard-working pizza delivery man at Atha's Famous Roast Beef, who dreamed of becoming a commercial pilot one day, was dead at the scene.

Police noted that the Hyundai was in reverse and Zangiband's foot was on the brake pedal as if trying to escape. On the ground outside the driver's side door, police found four spent 9 mm shell casings.

A witness, off-duty firefighter Norman Bourque, told police he was walking his neighbor's dog on Bowler Street when he saw a Hyundai driving toward him. A dark-colored Audi come up behind the Hyundai, overtook it and then forced the Hyundai to pull over and blocked it.

Bourque told police he was standing about 40-50 feet away as he watched an Hispanic man exit the Audi, walk toward the Hyundai, pull out a black semi-automatic handgun, point it at the driver of the Hyundai and fire four to five times into the car, according to court documents.

The killer returned to the Audi, looked directly at Bourque, and then drove away, according to police. Bourque wrote the car's New Hampshire license plate number, but he was only certain of the first three digits.

Another witness, Kate Gallaher, told police she was in her home when she heard a single shot followed by three more gunshots. She went to her window and saw a dark-colored Audi drive slowly by her house before speeding down Bowler Street toward Lake Street, court documents state.

James O'Neill, a third witness, told police he was parking his car on Bowler Street when he heard gunshots behind his car. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw a man dressed in black shooting into a silver car, court documents state. Then the shooter got back into his car and drove off.

Police were able to view home security video from the scene that showed a gray Audi trying to overtake a silver Hyundai on Bowler Street. The passenger side window of the Audi is open or missing. Another video shows the Audi following the Hyundai. Police state in court documents that these videos suggest this was a road-rage incident.

When Lynn police checked the license plate number they provided, they eventually found a plate for a Audi with Brito being the registered owner. The car and the description of the owner allegedly matched the shooter, police said. As a result a BOLO or a Be On the Look Out was posted for Brito.

At about 10:40 p.m., State Trooper Raymond Thompson was driving on Route 1 when he spotted a gray Audi in front of him with an improperly attached license plate. The trooper noted the license plate matched the BOLO. By coincidence, Trooper Nicholas Favaloro was driving in the same area and spotted the Audi. He could see the driver and noted his description matched the BOLO.

Brito was pulled over and handcuffed as a suspect in the Lynn murder. When asked if he had any weapons on him, he allegedly replied that he a gun in his jacket pocket. Police recovered a black, semi-automatic handgun with a magazine loaded with 9 mm bullets.

Brito was wearing a black jacket, a black hooded sweatshirt and black sweatpants. A check of the Audi showed its front passenger side window had been shattered with shards of glass on the passenger seat and the floor, police said.

While Brito was in State Police custody being questioned about the murder, authorities realized that 20 minutes before he was arrested, he was the suspect North Andover police were searching for in the alleged rape and robbery of a North Andover variety store clerk.

At about 10:30 p.m.on Monday, North Andover police responded to Richdale variety store on Chickering Road. A female clerk reported that a man wearing a dark mask entered the store and asked the clerk if anyone else was in the store, according to police. When she responded the store was empty, he forced her at gunpoint into a side room and ordered her to strip, police allege.

The man then raped the clerk and stole $500 from a money box and all the scratch tickets off the counter.

The man allegedly told the victim, "I had to kill someone...Thank you for making this easy,'' according to court documents.

Brito is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court on charges of aggravated rape, armed robbery while masked and kidnapping.

Photo by Lisa Redmond/lisa.redmond@patch.com.