Eddy Almonte, arrested May 29 during an unrelated motor vehicle stop in Winchester, Va., was arraigned for the murder of Nike Colon Monday in Haverhill District Court. (Courtesy booking photograph)
A handcuffed Eddy Almonte appeared in Haverhill District Court Monday to answer to murder charges brought two weeks after the death of 20-year-old Nike Colon.
Clad in a white T-shirt with his hair pulled back in a ponytail, Almonte appeared before Judge Stephen Abany, who ordered him held without bail on murder charges.
Almonte, who requested the services of a Spanish-language interpreter during the 15-minute hearing, said he could not afford a lawyer and asked for a court-appointed attorney. He was represented Monday by Boston-based defense attorney Eduardo A. Masferrer.
Haverhill Police Officer Sean Scharneck was among the several State Police and local law enforcement present for the heavily guarded session. Scharneck sat in the front row of the gallery to comfort Michelee Geronimo, the mother of Almonte’s alleged murder victim Colon.
Geronimo shifted nervously in her seat as Almonte was charged, and sobbed softly while Assistant District Attorney Michael Dulany recounted the night of her son’s death.
According to Dulany, exterior video surveillance footage from Riley’s Corner Market led police to finger Almonte as the triggerman in Colon’s drive-by shooting.
Dulany recounted how, on May 17, a black 2008 Honda SUV registered to and allegedly driven by Almonte, pulled up next to a white GMC pickup truck carrying Colon and fired at least four shots just after 5 p.m.
“As the white truck leaves, Mr. Colon can be seen in the passenger side with his head slowly falling out of the window,” Dulany said, adding that a witness also identified Almonte as the driver.
Masferrer declined to elaborate to WHAV on the specifics surrounding the 2016 gun crimes against Almonte that were dropped when witnesses failed to cooperate, but said his client looks forward to his day in court.
“Mr. Almonte is nervous, as you can imagine,” Masferrer told WHAV. “There’s a serious charge against him. He’s anxious to look at the government’s evidence and figure out the best ways to proclaim his innocence.”
A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Friday, July 13.