A verbally abusive Jahnigh Gonsalves had been staying with his brother and his brother’s girlfriend for months, refusing to leave their Lorraine Village apartment. When the woman called police Monday morning for help getting Gonsalves out, he allegedly fired eight shots into the couple, according to court records released Thursday.
A neighbor told police she’d heard no shouting or commotion before the gunfire.
The victims, both being treated at Juan F. Luis Hospital, told investigators they’d walked out of their bedroom to find Gonsalves waiting on the stairs with a black handgun.
When officers arrived around 10 a.m. at Lorraine Village Building 24, they found the brother outside bleeding heavily from several bullet wounds to his arm and leg. The officers followed a trail of blood to Apartment D where the female victim was lying on the ground, having been shot in the arm, leg, and upper back — a wound that required a tube to be inserted at the hospital, according to court records.
The woman told police her boyfriend had dissuaded her from calling police Sunday after Gonsalves had waved the gun at them.
She also told police Gonsalves’ girlfriend and their three small children had been in the apartment during the shooting and had offered no help — stepping over her as she lay bleeding.
Gonsalves, 22, surrendered to police Tuesday after an island-wide manhunt. He was charged with two counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault, carrying a firearm in commission of a crime, illegal possession of ammunition and a firearm, reckless endangerment, and other offenses. He was being held without bail, according to court records.
Gonsalves had refused to leave his truck during a November 2024 traffic stop and had to be “tactically removed” from the vehicle, according to police.
Inside the Ford, police found a 9mm ghost gun with an automatic sear switch. A loaded 17-round magazine was inserted into the magazine well of the weapon, with one round chambered. A 50-round drum was also recovered from inside the vehicle, along with a large quantity of marijuana, according to the police report.
Charges against Gonsalves were dropped, however, following a court ruling that the smell of cannabis was not sufficient evidence for police to search a vehicle.
