A convicted felon remains jailed after police say he attempted to shoot a man twice in the chest in a Concord parking lot, but the gun failed to fire.
Osbaldo Lopez-Andres, 24, of Willimantic, Conn., was preciously convicted of illegal drug sales in his home state in 2016 and, therefore, not permitted to have a firearm at the time of the Aug. 28 incident off Storrs Street in Concord. He faces felony charges of being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon, reckless conduct with a deadly weapon and falsifying physical evidence.
Also arrested was Jacob Silverstein, 22, of Concord who witnesses told police was with Lopez-Andres on the night of Aug. 28 and part of an altercation in the Market Basket parking lot. Silverstein faces misdemeanor charges of resisting arrest and breach of bail.
Concord police responded to the area of Storrs Street at about 8:36 p.m. for a report of an attempted shooting. A woman told 911 dispatchers that a man known to her as “Ozzy” pointed a small silver handgun at her husband and pulled the trigger twice, but the gun did not fire, according to a police affidavit. She said the man and another individual who goes by “Jake” fled the scene.
The victim said he saw “Jake” push his daughter and reacted by punching “Jake” in the face, the affidavit says. Then, he said, “Ozzy” pulled out a handgun and pointed it at him.
Ultimately, both suspects fled the scene after the gun failed to fire and a member of the victim’s group retrieved a gun in self-defense, according to witness accounts.
Detective Wade Brown ultimately arrested Lopez-Andres, who witnesses knew as “Ozzy,” in the early-morning hours of Aug. 29. He was located near Kennedy Lane, an alleyway off Pleasant Street Extension. Silverstein was also taken into custody near Pleasant Street.
Lopez-Andres did not have a gun on him at the time of his arrest. However, an officer who canvassed the area located a small silver handgun on the ground next a parked vehicle, and it was loaded with two .22 magnum rounds, according to the affidavit.
Lopez-Andres initially denied involvement in the incident. He later waived his Miranda rights and agreed to talk to police. While he first told police he witnessed a fight that he had no part in, he ultimately changed his story and said he was with Silverstein trying to retrieve property from a man he called “Rich.”
He said he’d slept in a parked car owned by “Rich” for a few days. “Rich” had stopped talking to him, and so he went to Storrs Street that night to get his stuff back. He said an altercation ensued and that the alleged victim had displayed a knife.
Silverstein is out of jail on personal recognizance and scheduled to appear in Concord’s district court on Sept. 15. The case against Lopez-Andres is scheduled for a dispositional conference in Merrimack County Superior Court in December.