Taunton police investigate alleged armed home invasion, shooting

Taunton police arrested a New Bedford man who allegedly shot a resident during an armed home invasion late Friday evening, according to a statement from Chief Edward J. Walsh.

Joshua Manuel Deleon, 22, of New Bedford, faces 10 charges, including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed assault with intent to murder, and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, according to officials.

On Friday at 10 p.m., police say they responded to a home on Newcomb Place after 911 dispatchers received a call from a cellphone around that location with a person screaming on the line. 

As two police officers arrived at a multi-unit house, dispatchers informed them that they had received reports of a firearm involved in an ongoing disturbance, according to the statement. Police say additional backup units were dispatched to the scene.

Officers announced their presence outside the home in question, and a woman answered the door and allowed the officers to enter a second-floor apartment, according to the statement.

Inside, police say they found two men struggling on the ground, with one man on top of the other. 

Noting the report of the presence of a firearm, and fearing for their own safety and the safety of those around them, the officers unholstered their firearms and pointed them at the two men, ordering them to cease their struggle on the ground, according to the statement.

The men complied, and officers say they immediately noted that one of the two was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the leg. The officers called for an emergency medical response.

The alleged suspect, identified as Deleon, was also injured, suffering head trauma and other injuries during the altercation, according to the statement.

Police say they found a firearm near his person, and officers noted that he was wearing body armor.

Officers later found two additional firearms as well as three bullet casings from the floor, according to the statement.

Police say that, based on apparent bullet holes, an apartment above, on the third floor, may have been fired into during the struggle.

Officers met with a woman who lives on the third floor and ascertained that she — and her four children inside the apartment — were frightened but not injured, according to the statement.

Police say Deleon was taken to a local hospital before being transferred by medical helicopter to a Boston hospital, where he is being treated, in police custody, for serious injuries sustained in the altercation. 

The other male, who was shot, was taken to a different hospital, where he was treated overnight and is expected to recover, according to police.

Police say the two men are known to each other and that this incident was not a random act of violence. It is believed that the conflict originated in a different community and spilled over to Taunton, according to the statement.

The Taunton Fire Department responded to the scene and provided emergency medical services. 

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