On July 8, 2007, 28-year-old Gregory Goncalves Jr. of Abington, Massachusetts, was found shot 15 times while seated in the passenger side of a car in a driveway on Hunt Street in Brockton. The excessive number of wounds and the location suggested a targeted killing that prompted a multiagency investigation by the Brockton Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, and the FBI’s Southeastern Massachusetts Gang Task Force.Among developments reported during the inquiry, authorities identified a possible motive of retaliation. Investigators alleged that former Brockton resident Rodney Gurley believed Goncalves had been involved in the 2001 killing of Gurley’s uncle, Shane Gurley, and that Gurley had arranged the 2007 ambush.

Prosecutors also alleged Gurley hired another man, John Monteiro, to carry out the shooting. During the broader probe, a November 2009 search of a residence linked to Gurley reportedly turned up a large quantity of crack cocaine, cash, and drug-distribution materials, and federal charges for possession with intent to distribute were pursued; in July 2011 Gurley was convicted on those federal drug charges. A Plymouth County grand jury later returned an indictment in the homicide.

Jose Gurley, Rodney’s brother, was also murdered in a separate 2007 incident.