Fall River man dead in apparent homicide Saturday night

Massachusetts State Police assigned to BCDAO, Homicide Unit prosecutors and Dartmouth Police are actively investigating a homicide, which occurred Saturday night in Dartmouth.

According to Gregg Miliote of the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, at around 10:34 p.m., Dartmouth Police received a 911 call from the night manager at the Regency Hotel on Faunce Corner Road. The night manager reported to police that a man was bleeding heavily inside a car in the hotel’s rear parking lot.

When first responders arrived minutes later, they found the victim, 37-year-old Joseph Tavares of Fall River, sitting unresponsive in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. Tavares was suffering from apparent gunshot wounds and was rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, where he was pronounced dead at 11:07 p.m.

The night manager at the hotel told police he was alerted to the vehicle after a hotel guest said they heard loud thuds and breaking glass coming from the rear parking lot.

The investigation is being coordinated by Chief of the office’s homicide unit, Assistant District Attorney Dennis Collins.