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Suspect charged in 2015 Everett bar shooting that killed Ashlee Berryman
Ashlee "Penny" Berryman was "a completely innocent victim who was caught in a hail of gunfire" outside an Everett bar in 2015, District Attorney Marian Ryan said.
More than eight years after Ashlee “Penny” Berryman was gunned down outside a bar in Everett in 2015, authorities have identified the man allegedly responsible for the young mother’s death.
Henry “J.R.” Del-Rio, 27, allegedly fired a gun into a crowd outside Braza Bar And Grill early on Aug. 13, 2015, striking and killing Berryman, according to Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan.
The 21-year-old Malden woman was there to see her boyfriend perform in a concert, Ryan said during a news conference Friday. Berryman, she said, “was a completely innocent victim who was caught in a hail of gunfire. Those actions ripped her from her then 3-year-old son, as well as her other family and friends.”
Del-Rio — a Chelsea resident — was indicted Friday morning on charges of first-degree murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, attempted assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and carrying a firearm, subsequent offense. It was not immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could comment on the charges.
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Ryan explained that a group of concertgoers had congregated in the bar’s parking lot on the night of the shooting. Among the crowd was Del-Rio and some of his acquaintances, “many of whom, like him, were allegedly associated with the Chelsea-based East Side Money Gang,” she said.
Just before 1 a.m., a verbal argument broke out between one of Del-Rio’s associates and another man. As the fight broke up, Del-Rio allegedly drew a semi-automatic pistol and fired nine times into the crowd, with one of the bullets striking Berryman in the back, Ryan said.
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She said investigators quickly identified multiple witnesses who saw Del-Rio in the parking lot, and authorities learned that Del-Rio “had brazenly told people that he had engaged in that shooting and that he was responsible for the shot that had killed Ashlee Berryman.”
Yet Ryan alleged that Del-Rio’s associates agreed to conceal the truth about the shooting, stymieing the investigation. Speaking to The Boston Globe one year after her daughter’s death, Margaret Berryman expressed frustration that no one had come forward to help police identify the shooter.
“It’s such a hard pill to swallow that you had tons and tons of … people at this club, and you’re going to tell me not one person [saw] what the hell happened,” Berryman told the Globe in 2016. “Are you kidding me? Nobody’s talking. That’s what they’re saying.”
According to Ryan, persistent investigators were the key to finally cracking the case.
“This is not one of those cases where there’s a magic forensic development,” she said Friday. “This case really represents persistence and continued work, and re-examination of information around this case.”
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According to Ryan, Del-Rio could be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court as early as Tuesday. He has been in federal custody since December 2022 in connection with a separate case, she said.
Del-Rio was sentenced to five years in prison and four years of supervised release in 2018 after pleading guilty to racketeering and drug trafficking charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said at the time.
In a press release, federal prosecutors described Del-Rio as a “self-admitted member of the [East Side Money Gang], a Chelsea-based street gang, which uses violence to further its criminal activities and enforce its internal rules.” Specifically, the group uses violence to protect its members and associates, target rival gang members, and intimidate potential witnesses, the U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged.
Ryan said prosecutors will present more information about Del-Rio’s background and criminal history during his arraignment.
“This case reflects not only the tragedy of a young mother who lost her life after going to a concert, but it also reflects what happens when people have firearms on the street and they are brazen enough to just begin shooting into a crowd of people,” she said.
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Ryan added, “There’s nothing surprising about what took place here. What is surprising is that more people were not hurt, given the number of times that this gun was fired, in a city that is extremely, densely populated.”
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