Suspect in Mansfield homicide faces murder charge, DA says

O’Brien is being held in custody pending his arraignment. The investigation into the homicide of Samuel P. Waters of 42 West Church St. is still ongoing.

Police dive teams were on scene in the water near the home Monday afternoon. Gregg  Miliote, a spokesman for the Bristol DA's office, confirmed the search was part of the ongoing investigation. He declined to say what in particular the divers were looking for.

Waters was found dead at his home by police and firefighters of several gunshot wounds shortly before 11:15 a.m. Saturday, Miliote said.

There is no reason to believe there is any danger to the public, according to Miliote and Acting Deputy Police Chief Frank Archer.

No other details were released, Miliote said, citing the ongoing investigation by state police homicide detectives assigned to the district attorney’s officers, prosecutors and local police.

Soon after the shooting was reported, police were looking for a car that was believed to have fled the scene and said two individuals were initially detained.

The tan, two-story house is across the street from Milhaus at Mansfield, a large apartment complex on Rumford Avenue in a thickly-settled residential area near downtown.

Homicides are rare in Mansfield, a town the U.S. Census says has about 24,000 residents. The last homicide was in 2011 when 22-year-old Aderito Cardoso of Brockton was fatally shot at an apartment at the Village at Mansfield Depot, now known as Station Pointe.

An Attleboro man, who claimed he acted in self-defense, was indicted on manslaughter charges and was acquitted after a jury trial.

In July 2009, Kristopher Griffin, 35, was charged with first-degree murder for killing his 6-year-old daughter Kaitlyn with a knife at her Chilson Avenue home. Griffin was convicted and is serving a life sentence at MCI-Norfolk without the chance of parole.

Following the call Saturday morning, two ambulances and several state and local police cruisers packed West Church Street and Rumford Avenue. The scene in the normally quiet neighborhood caused concern among some of the residents.

One neighbor said he was told by another that they heard several gun shots but that he did not hear anything.

The 55-year-old man, who declined to give The Sun Chronicle his name, said there was an argument in front of the house about 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. Friday night before a car sped off.

“There’s a lot of people who live there,” the neighbor said.

When asked whether he was concerned about a fatal shooting in his neighborhood, the man said, “It could happen anywhere, unfortunately.”

Cece Davis, 21, who lives a couple of houses down from the scene across the street went out to see the commotion with her mother. She told The Sun Chronicle that she received a text from one of her friends, who lives across from their house, to let her know there were cops and ambulances near her building.

“I think it was a bad day for some people that someone lost their life. I don’t know how it happened or what happened exactly, but it’s very unfortunate and scary that happened so close to home,” Davis said.

“It’s shocking,” Davis added, “because this has always been like a kind of chilled town, not a lot of drama or violent things like this happen.”

Sammar Husain, one of the other neighbors who came outside from his home after the police cars arrived, said “I’ve just seen cops standing out here for I would say probably 45 minutes to one hour or more. I just stepped out to see but I have no idea.”

“I am confused because I’ve never seen so many law enforcement, agents, and police officers out, so I wonder if it’s serious. I don’t know if it’s safe to walk outside right after everyone is gone,” Husain said.

Julie Farabaugh, 27, a server at Pushkar Café located at 219 North Main St., said she was working for about four hours before she heard sirens from all directions and saw an ambulance drive by before noticing the commotion.

“We were super busy at the restaurant so we didn’t see anything happen,” Farabaugh said, “but we were wondering what was going on out there and if something big was going on.”

Farabaugh said she has lived in the center of Mansfield for well over two years but nothing like this has ever happened.

“So this is crazy. As of right now, I don’t think I am concerned but definitely interested to know more about what happened, why exactly, and what went on because this is normally a very safe town,” Farabaugh said.

Next to the Pushkar Café, NY Pizza manager Kodie Cardeti, 21, was wondering the same.

“We opened up at 11 and we were just seeing cop cars in and out but no one really knows. All the customers coming in to get pizzas and everything, they have been asking but we don’t know. We’ve never seen anything like it over here,” Cardeti said.

“Normally, nothing like this happens. I’ve been working here almost every day for the past eight months but nothing close like this has happened,” Cardeti said.

“We see traffic stops that’s the most we see over here. It is something definitely that we’ve never seen before,” Cardeti said, “so it’s a little on the edge but we are all fine in here.”