A 50-year-old New Hampshire man is facing criminal charges after prosecutors say he aimed an air rifle at three people, including a 5-year-old girl, in Mattapan on Monday, Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office announced.
Salvador Maldonado, of Manchester, New Hampshire, is charged with three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon. Maldonado was arraigned Wednesday and had his bail set at $1,500.
The arraignment judge, Vanessa Velez, also revoked Maldonado’s bail in a pending case in Lowell. Maldonado was ordered to be evaluated by a court clinician, who deemed he did not need to be hospitalized, Hayden’s office said in a statement.
Just before 7 p.m. on Monday, Boston police learned of a person with a gun on Morton Village Drive, according to the statement. The caller told police a man pointed what she described as a brown shotgun directly at her and her 5-year-old daughter while they were stopped at a traffic light on Corbet Street. The woman immediately fled.
The woman told police the other vehicle, which prosecutors say was being driven by Maldonado, had an out-of-state license plate.
As police met with the woman, other officers went to Burt Street for another call of a person with a gun, according to Hayden’s office. The caller told police she saw a man walking up and down the street with a rifle. She said she heard three popping sounds and people yelling. The woman told police a man, later identified as Maldonado, pointed a rifle at her before getting into a blue Honda Pilot.
Police later found Maldonado inside a blue Honda Pilot with New Hampshire license plates. Inside the car, officers saw a Sig Sauer MCX 177 airsoft rifle on the front passenger seat. Maldonado was then taken into police custody, according to the statement.
Maldonado will return to court on Sept. 5 for a pre-trial hearing.
“To be going about your daily routines and then see someone point a gun at you is a terribly frightening experience,” Hayden said in the statement. “I’m very proud of these victims for immediately contacting police and providing them solid identifying information. Their actions may have prevented a more dangerous outcome here.”
