Official: Lopes saw bystander watch him flee
That’s why he shot her, ADA says
Elderly bystander Vera Adams was purposefully shot and killed by Emanuel Lopes when he saw her watching him flee police after he fatally shot Weymouth police Sgt. Michael Chesna Sunday morning, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Lopes, appearing in court in a hospital johnny, was arraigned on murder charges in both killings.
The judge presiding over the courtroom packed with 150 uniformed police and state troopers refused to send Lopes to Bridgewater State Hospital for a mental health evaluation after a forensic psychologist testified he had no reason to doubt Lopes’ ability to comprehend what was happening to him.
“He indicated he disagreed with the charges, but he understands them. He understands the charges are serious and that he’s facing two life sentences. In short, I didn’t find any substantial reasons to doubt his competency,” Nicholas Petrou of the Department of Mental Health told Quincy District Court Judge Mark Coven after meeting with Lopes, 20.
Lopes — whose own mother feared him and has an active restraining order on him — pleaded not guilty to a half-dozen charges, including the homicides of Chesna, 42, and Vera Adams, 77.
Assistant Norfolk District Attorney Greg Connors told the court that Lopes shot Adams to death when he saw her watching him from her sun porch. Her death had initially been reported as the result of a stray bullet.
Chesna and Adams were killed with Chesna’s duty weapon — Chesna struck by 10 and Adams at least two of the 16 bullets Connors said Lopes emptied from the firearm.
The courtroom fell silent as court officers pushed Lopes in a wheelchair through the blue throng. He was delivered to his arraignment directly from South Shore Medical Center, where Connors said Lopes is being treated for a gunshot wound to the foot fired by Weymouth officer Sean Martin.
Coven ordered Lopes held without bail, to return Aug. 15 for a probable-cause hearing.
Attorney Larry Tipton, Lopes’ public defender — Connors’ legal adversary in the “Puppy Doe” animal cruelty trial earlier his year — told the judge, “I was unable to speak to him in a coherent fashion.”
Tipton said Lopes has “a long and detailed history of psychiatric disorders” that justified his spending at least 20 days at Bridgewater for further evaluation.
But Coven said, “Based on what I’ve heard today, I don’t think a Bridgewater evaluation is warranted.” When Coven asked Lopes directly if he understood the charges, Lopes replied, “Yes, I do.”