DA: Man wanted in deadly shooting at Thanksgiving Eve party in Lowell arrested in California

LOWELL, Mass. — A man wanted in connection with a deadly shooting at a party in Lowell on Thanksgiving Eve has been arrested in California, authorities announced Thursday.

Dustin Defrietas, 19, of Lowell, is expected to be transported back to Massachusetts to face charges including assault and battery with a firearm, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, possession of a firearm, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a residence in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Sakdara Khoeun, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan and Lowell Police Superintendent Greg Hudon.

Khoeun was brought to a local hospital by his friends after suffering a gunshot wound at a party at a home on Westford Street in Lowell on Nov. 22 and was later pronounced dead, Ryan and Hudon said.

Investigators, including state troopers assigned to Ryan’s office, searched the home and gathered evidence that helped them identify Defrietas as the suspected shooter. He was taken into custody in Stockton after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

An autopsy conducted by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Khoeun’s cause of death to be a single gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The shooting remains under investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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