Federal law enforcement arrested a fugitive and suspected Trinitarios gang member in Massachusetts on Monday after he allegedly fired at Rumford police last month before fleeing with two accomplices.
FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents surrounded the Lawrence, Massachusetts home of Luis Jose Nivar Cabral, 24, early Monday morning with assistance from a SWAT team in order to execute an arrest warrant.
Cabral did not immediately comply with law enforcement. Instead, he remained inside his Roberta Lane home, causing an hours-long standoff.
Eventually, law enforcement used a vehicle-mounted battering ram to break through a window and threw in flash-bang grenades, which prompted Cabral to exit the home and surrender.
According to court documents reviewed by WMTW, Cabral was involved in fentanyl trafficking in Northern Massachusetts and Maine, implicated in three Maine home invasions—two at the same home in Woodstock and one in Rumford—and was one of three suspects who escaped after firing on Rumford officers during a high-speed chase on August 15.
At that time, officers were watching a residence as part of an investigation into drug trafficking activities when a suspicious gray and black Dodge Charger left the property and proceeded to speed more than 25 mph over the limit.
Police attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the vehicle fled at high speed. During the pursuit, the occupants of the car allegedly opened fire on police with rifles. At the time, two suspects, Joseph Allen Denbow Jr., 33, of Norway, and Troy Scott Murch Jr., 38, also of Norway, were arrested, but three others, described as Hispanic males, escaped.
Police searched the cell phone of one of the men apprehended at that time which helped them to identify the fugitives. They also learned the men who escaped in August had been driving a white Nissan sedan.
Law enforcement believes that Cabral was one of those three fugitives and that he has been conspiring to distribute fentanyl since at least August.
According to court documents, police stopped two Hispanic males in Rumford the day after the chase. One was driving the Nissan.
Police detained the two men and identified them as co-conspirators in Cabral’s alleged drug operation. The men were able to identify Cabral from a photograph. According to documents, the two men had been instructed by Cabral to gp to Rumford and retrieve the white Nissan, which was parked on Swain Road.
It is not clear if those two men are believed to have been with Cabral during the police chase.
Police detained the Nissan and determined that the vehicle had been rented by a romantic associate of Cabral in Lawrence, Mass. A search of the vehicle revealed one of Cabral’s cell phones, which allegedly contained messages suggesting that drugs had been stolen from him in the days leading up to the chase.
Cabral was reportedly arrested by the Massachusetts State Police on August 31 during a routine traffic stop when he was found with identification for eight different people, including an ID for one of the individuals arrested in connection with the Rumford chase and the relative of a cooperative witness.
Despite that arrest, he was released, and, according to court documents, made four drug-related trips from Massachusetts to Maine after September 9.
Cabral will reportedly be sent to Maine after his initial court appearance in Massachusetts.
