Fall River man held without bail after arraignment in murder of convenience store owner

A 37-year-old Fall River man has been held without bail after being charged with murder and other crimes related to the October 18th shooting death of 54-year-old Lal Kishor Mahaseth.

A criminal complaint charging Nelson F. Coelho with murder, attempted armed and masked robbery, and carrying an illegal firearm is being filed in Fall River District Court.

Today, Coelho was held without bail at his arraignment.

The defendant is already in custody after being arrested on October 26th in connection to a separate Fall River armed robbery.

Coelho is already facing charges of armed and masked robbery, two counts of breaking and entering for a misdemeanor and two counts of trespassing in connection to an October 17 robbery at the 7 Days Food Mart, which is located just blocks away from where the October 18th homicide occurred.

According to a police report and The Herald News, it all began when Coelho, who was squatting in a vacant apartment on 251 Pine Street, became friendly with a woman, her boyfriend, Samuel Lozano, and his father who were all tenants in the building.

A woman that was seeing Coelho told police that on the night of the 7 Days Food Mart robbery, she saw Lozano hand a handgun to Coelho before they both left the home.

Police say video evidence showed that a Volvo SUV registered to Lozano’s father was at the scene of the Durfee Street robbery which is believed to be Coelho’s getaway vehicle.

The female witness added that when Lozano and Coelho came back to the Pine Street apartment, they counted the $1,253 in cash from the robbery and used $300 of it to buy crack cocaine which the three smoked.

The following night, Coelho allegedly shot Mahaseth at approximately 9:15 p.m. The woman seeing Coelho stated that he admitted to her that he shot Mahaseth, but didn’t mean to. He stated that the gun got stuck and he was looking for her to be his alibi.

At 10:33 p.m., Fall River Police were called to the Stop N Save convenience store at 201 Rock Street. The 911 caller had entered the store at around 10:30 p.m. to purchase food and found Mahaseth on the floor behind the counter with blood on his chest.

When first responders arrived on scene, they transported the victim, later identified as Mahaseth, to Charlton Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced deceased at 11:14 p.m.

On October 25th, police arrested Coelho after finding him in a closet in the Pine Street apartment that he was reportedly squatting in.

Lozano was arrested on an outstanding warrant and reportedly admitted to being the get-away driver in the 7 Days Food Mart robbery. Lozano stated that he only agreed to the deed after being threatened by Coelho with a gun. Lozano also stated that he was afraid Coelho may harm members of his family so he agreed to be paid $100 to be the driver.

Lozano said that he had no role in the Rock Street incident.

Police stated that Coelho tried to obscure the tattoos on his hands. A tattoo on the suspect’s right hand was featured in a screenshot from video surveillance by police.

Coelho’s next court appearance is late next month.