WOBURN, Mass. — An alleged gang member has been charged in connection with the murder of a young mother who was “caught in a hail of gunfire” while attending a concert in Everett where her boyfriend was performing in 2015, investigators announced Friday.
Henry “JR” Del Rio, 27, of Chelsea, was indicted Friday morning by a Middlesex grand jury on charges including first-degree murder, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, attempt to commit assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, in possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and carrying a firearm in the death of 21-year-old Ashlee Berryman, of Malden, on Aug. 13, 2015, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian T. Ryan.
On that evening, Del Rio fired his gun into a crowd outside the Braza Bar and Grill in Everett, striking and killing Berryman, Ryan said during an afternoon news conference at the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office in Woburn.
“Ashlee Berryman, known to those who loved her as Penny, was a completely innocent victim who was caught in a hail of gunfire,” Ryan said. “Those actions ripped her from her then 3-year-old son, as well as her other family and friends. Her family has waited over eight years for answers as to what happened, and the community of Everett left shaken and afraid.”
A concert was taking place during the early morning hours of Aug. 13 at Braza, where Berryman’s boyfriend was performing, according to Ryan. After the show, concertgoers gathered in the parking lot, where a verbal confrontation involving Del Rio unfolded.
Del Rio, an alleged member of the Chelsea-based “Eastside Money Gang,” drew a semi-automatic pistol and fired nine times into the crowd following the confrontation, hitting Berryman’s back, Ryan explained.
Berryman died from the gunshot wound. Another man was struck in the feet and ankles, while other shots were struck a wooded sign, the front of a Rite-Aid pharmacy, and a parked car.
In the days after the shooting, Del Rio “brazenly told people that he had engaged in that shooting and that he was responsible for the shot that he killed Ashlee Berryman,” Ryan said.
Some of Del Rio’s associates who knew what happened agreed to say nothing and that the murder weapon should be disposed of, Ryan alleged.
“To compound the tragedy of what happened taken place, there was an intentional agreement among those associates to conceal the truth of what had happened,” Ryan said. “They also engaged in discussions about the disposal of the murder weapon.”
That murder weapon has never been recovered.
Del Rio is currently being held in connection with a federal case. He is expected to be brought to Middlesex Superior Court to be arraigned at a later date.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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