2 men cleared of accessory charges in late-night Brookline shooting

Two 18-year-old men have been cleared of charges after they were arrested in connection with a Brookline shooting earlier this year, according to court records.

Thomas May of Brookline and Guilherme Leal De Britto Pereira of Needham were both charged with being an accessory after the fact in the aftermath of the Jan. 11 shooting. While Pereira was cleared back in February, May wasn’t cleared until Aug. 21, court records showed.

Just before 1:30 a.m., Brookline police responded to multiple reports of possible gunshots near New Terrace Road, where they found several spent shell casings. They later discovered that the victim, an 18-year-old Newton man, had walked into Brigham and Women’s Hospital with a gunshot wound to the hip.

When police arrived at the hospital, they found the victim and a vehicle that appeared to have gunshot damage. Following an investigation, May, Pereira, and two minors were arrested.

One of the minors, a 17-year-old male from Roslindale, was charged with four counts of armed assault to murder, unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building. The other, a 16-year-old male from Brookline, was charged with being an accessory after the fact, unlawful possession of a large capacity firearm, improper firearm storage, unlawful possession of large capacity feeding device, and unlawful possession of ammunition.

The investigation further revealed that the shooting occurred when one of the minors, who was riding in May’s father’s car as a passenger, allegedly fired the gun into another vehicle. May and Pereira were arrested and charged for allegedly aiding the shooter by leaving the scene and not reporting the crime.

Both May and Pereira’s attorneys argued in their respective motions to dismiss the charges that there was a lack of probable cause. Although they were at the scene, they did not “anticipate, expect, assist, or condone” the shooting, according to court filings.

“When the case was finally dismissed, it was a welcome result, and [May] hopes to finish college over the next couple of years and have a bright future,” Robert George, May’s attorney, said. “The people who were involved are still facing charges, and the people who were not involved are not.”

George told Boston.com that it likely took longer for May to be discharged because he was driving the vehicle from which the gunshots were allegedly fired. Pereira, on the other hand, was a passenger in the back seat.

“The district attorney’s office agreed that there was no probable cause,” Joshua Wood, Pereira’s attorney, told Boston.com. “He was just as much a victim as anybody else. He had nothing to do with it and was cooperative.”