Man Who Drove Into Peabody Crowd Paroled, Faces Deportation

PEABODY, MA -- The Brazilian national who intentionally drove into a crowd outside a Peabody bar was paroled last week after serving nearly 20 years in prison. Gerson Chavez, 44, was turned over to the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and will be deported.

Chavez, also known as Eremilson Barbosa, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and attempted murder in November 1998. According to his original indictment, on February 16, 1998, Chavez killed Paul Cunha, 24, of Lynn, and injured Anna Marconi, 24 at the time, when he drove into a crowd outside Bazooka's Saloon in Peabody, where both victims worked.

According to the Salem News, which first reported this story, one of Chavez's friends argued with Cunha, the bar's assistant manager, after the bar closed, prompting Chavez to run down the crowd. He reportedly ran over Marconi three times and the waitress at Bazooka's spent months in a coma after the incident. As he drove away Cunha held onto the car for 400 feet but eventually lost his grip and was crushed.

For more on this story, see the Salem News. Subscribe to Peabody Patch for more local news and real-time alerts.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).