SHOOTING SUSPECT DEEMED DANGEROUS
Sovandara Khiaosoth held without bail
LOWELL >> The suspect in a March 10 shooting on Lilley Avenue, in the city’s Centralville neighborhood, was held without bail following a dangerousness hearing in Lowell District Court on Monday.
Sovandara Khiaosoth, 29, of Lowell, appeared before Judge Stephen Geary, charged with armed assault to murder, assault and battery with a deadly weapon with bodily injury, among other charges.
Geary said the nature and seriousness of the crime warranted that Khiaosoth be held pending trial to protect the witness and the community.
“After hearing, and after a review of all of the evidence considering the totality of all of the evidence, and applying the statute, which is 58A … the court does find by clear and convincing evidence that there are no conditions of release that would ensure the safety of the community and any and all witnesses,”
Geary said from the bench.
Geary noted no previous record of conviction for Khiaosoth, which he considered, but that the “nature and circumstances of the offense charged, and the potential penalty, which is significant incarceration,” informed his decision.
Khiaosoth, in street clothes, was escorted from the courtroom by court officers. His attorney, Eileen Morrison, was told by Geary that she would “stay on as his (Khiaosoth’s) counsel.”
According to police reports, officers responded the 40 block of Lilley Avenue, between Dalton Street and Burrill Place, shortly after 10:30 p.m. March 10, to find a man laying on a sidewalk suffering from several gunshot wounds, and that he was “bleeding profusely from several areas of his body, including both legs and his back.” Officer Shane Goyette stated in the report that he applied a tourniquet to the victim’s upper left thigh, while other officers applied pressure to the wounds.
The victim, who has not been named, was rushed to Lowell General Hospital’s Main Campus, and then to Tufts Medical Center in Boston for further treatment. According to police reports, he was listed in stable condition at the time of the transport.
While investigating the area, police said they located seven spent shell casings in front of 44 Lilley Ave. and a single live round in front of 15 Dalton St. Police reports state witnesses to the shooting told investigators the victim had just gotten out of his vehicle when he was shot by an unknown individual. After hearing several gunshots, one witness told investigators that he saw the suspect run away from the scene on foot.
Based on surveillance footage from several cameras in the area, police detectives questioned Khiaosoth the day after the shooting, and executed a search warrant on his Dalton Street apartment. The evidence allegedly recovered included clothing that matched the description of the suspect from the surveillance footage and from witness accounts, as well as ammunition, and he was arrested by the Lowell
Police Criminal Investigations Bureau in connection with the shooting.
Khiaosoth was arraigned in Lowell District Court on March 13 on the charges of armed assault with intent to murder, possession of a firearm without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and assault and battery with a firearm.
Police have also not disclosed a possible motive for the shooting. Morrison and family members, who were present for the hearing, declined to speak to a reporter after the hearing. The file has been impounded by the court to protect the names of witnesses, according to a clerk of the court.
Samuel Chang, of Lowell, also attended the court hearing, sitting with who he described afterward as the sister and mother of the defendant. He said he came out to support his friend whom he has known since Khiaosoth’s junior year in high school. Khiaosoth is a 2012 graduate of Lowell High School, according to The Sun archives.
“I read about it in the paper,” Chang said. “I don’t know much about the case, but it’s out of the blue. I literally saw him like a month ago. We were just hanging out. I think he’s innocent because he’s a very sweet kid, a great sense of humor, a big heart. He wouldn’t do this.”
Khiaosoth is due back in court for a probable cause hearing on April 19.