Joe Araujo: 22-year-old man fatally shot inside Brockton-area Hibachi restaurant, no suspect arrested
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES: The office of the Plymouth County District Attorney on Saturday, January 13, made available surveillance footage of a fatal shooting that occurred the previous evening inside a Hibachi restaurant in Brockton.
The gunman, who appears to be carrying an empty takeout container and is dressed in a hooded jacket and face mask, is seen in the video walking through an aisle of the restaurant, pausing momentarily at a table, and then drawing his gun from his jacket and firing it. One man died in the shooting.
Shooting victim identified
The victim, who authorities on Saturday identified as Joe Araujo, 22, of Brockton, was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital and later declared dead, according to the office of the Plymouth County District Attorney.
Araujo, who was seated at a booth inside the restaurant with a woman, was shot in close proximity to where families and children are seen eating in the video.
As the gunman fires, the victim seems to raise his hand. The surveillance footage shows children nearby.
A child sitting in the booth directly behind the victim is seen being escorted out by a family member moments after the gunfire, while another child returns to a nearby table just seconds before the shooting.
The DA's office claimed that the video has been altered to blur and obscure the faces of minors and possible witnesses.
"Preliminarily, the victim appears to have been the target, and this was not a random act of violence," the district attorney's office stated.
No suspect arrested
No arrests have been made, according to NBC Boston. Police say there is no need for the public to be concerned, but they are still on high alert and scouring the area in an attempt to find the suspect.
A Brockton resident, John Monagle, who frequently dines at the buffet, said to the station, "It’s terrible. I mean, you bring a child out to dinner, and you don’t think something like that is gonna happen."
Monagle remarked, "I've never felt unsafe here," and he was shocked by the extreme violence.
Even though the police claimed they were safe, the owners of nearby businesses in the Massachusetts strip mall told that they are exercising caution, New York Post reported.
“We start to close early,” Jacqueline Macedo, owner of a Brazilian shop next-door said. "We have a lot of cameras all [over] the place."
It is recommended that anyone with information regarding the shooting call the Brockton police at 508-941-0200.
