An Everett man was found guilty of shooting a rival as he was seated in his parked car outside a homecoming football game.
A Middlesex Superior Court jury after a three-week trial convicted Michael Stanton, 22, of second-degree murder for the Oct. 22, 2021, shooting of Craig McDonald Jr., of Randolph. He is scheduled to be sentenced at the court in Woburn Wednesday at 10 a.m.
A second defendant, Luiz Perlera, is scheduled for a murder trial beginning Oct. 23 in the same court.
“This case is an example of the dangerous trend of young people illegally possessing firearms and using them to perpetrate violence in our communities,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a written statement following the verdict. As hundreds of students, families and other spectators milled around the stadium celebrating an annual football tradition, the defendant brazenly tracked McDonald down in that same neighborhood.
“When he found him, he used an illegally possessed firearm to end his life,” she continued. “This was truly a senseless tragedy. Although nothing can mitigate the harm done by this defendant, this prosecution reflects our commitment to holding accountable those who commit these violent acts.”
Everett Police responded at around 8 p.m. that night to the area of Revere and Second streets, where a 911 caller had reported gunshots. Within minutes of their arrival, officers were informed that McDonald was transported to CHA Everett Hospital, where he would be pronounced dead from apparent gunshot wounds.
Prosecutors in the case said that the violence was spurred by some kind of conflict on social media. Stanton, who was 19 at the time, and his friends monitored McDonald and his girlfriend at the Everett homecoming game and then followed him to his car, where McDonald would later be found shot.
