Nashua Teen Accused Of Shooting At Juvenile During Friday Night Fight

NASHUA, NH — A teen from Nashua was arrested Tuesday after being accused of shooting a gun during a fight on Ash Street Friday, where the projected bullet struck the ground and then a juvenile’s leg.

Around 5 p.m., police were sent to the area around the Police Athletic Center on Ash Street for a report of shots fired. When officers arrived, they spoke with several witnesses who reported a fight involving “a large group of individuals” and a man firing a gun during the incident. After the gun was fired, the people involved in the fight dispersed, an affidavit stated.

Detectives and officers interviewed witnesses and a suspect, Jean Gonzalez Cortes, 18, of Eleventh Street in Nashua, who was accused of firing the gun. One of the witnesses knew him from school, a detective wrote.

Editor's note: This post was derived from information supplied by the Nashua Police Department and does not indicate a conviction. This link explains the removal request process for New Hampshire Patch police reports.

Detectives began searching Ash Street and found a bullet casing as well as a “potential impact mark” near the area of the casing consistent with “a strike from a small projectile,” an affidavit stated. The metal jacketing of the bullet was also found “within several inches of this impact mark,” the report stated.

One officer obtained video from a juvenile who recorded the incident. A detective said the video confirmed many people were involved in the fight. It also recorded footage of a man, later identified as Cortes, who “reaches into his waistband and produces a semiautomatic pistol,” “points the firearm towards two individuals who are actively fighting one another,” and “then fires a single round from his firearm,” the detective wrote. The bullet then struck one of the kids in the leg. The other kid, the detective wrote, was Cortes’ juvenile brother.

The video was shot in the area where the bullet fragment and casing were found, police said.

A detective spoke to another witness from a nearby business, who reported seeing four people exit an Acura sedan with New Hampshire plates and walk up Ash Street. A couple of minutes later, the witness heard a gunshot and saw the same four people running back to the Acura.

According to the affidavit, the detective said the car was registered to Cortes.

Another detective eyed Cortes’ NH DMV profile and social media and said the pictures matched the man in the video firing the gun.

A warrant was then issued for his arrest.

After the warrant was released, Manchester police contacted Nashua police and said the gunshot victim was being treated at Elliot Hospital. He was shot in the leg, police said, and the “projectile would remain in place.”

The Nashua detective said Manchester police said, during the initial interview, the victim believed his injury was from falling on the ice during the altercation, the affidavit said.

Cortes was arrested early Tuesday morning at police headquarters on first-degree assault with a firearm and reckless conduct-deadly weapon. Detectives attempted to speak with him during a Mirandized interview, but the report stated he invoked his right to counsel and declined to talk to them. Cortes was held on preventative detention and was scheduled to be arraigned in Nashua District Court on Tuesday afternoon.

If convicted, Cortes faces up to 27 years in prison as well as fines.

The Nashua Police Department asked anyone with information about the incident to contact the Crime Line at 603-589-1665.

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