Jury sees 'graphic' video of Rock St. convenience store shooting; murder suspect on trial

FALL RIVER — Fifteen jurors were presented images of a disturbing scene caught on surveillance video inside the Stop N Save convenience store on Rock Street. It showed 54-year-old owner Lal Kishor Mahaseth being gunned down during a robbery by a man disguised head to toe in black in October 2021.

Mahaseth would be hit by a single fatal bullet to the chest when he attempted to fend off the robber by throwing a desk chair over the store’s counter. He was found by a customer more than an hour later.

The murder and robbery trial of Nelson F. Coelho, 39, began in Bristol County Superior Court on Wednesday.

Maheseth’s three grown children and four other family members stepped out of the courtroom briefly as Assistant District Attorney Dennis Collins, chief of Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn III’s homicide unit, and Assistant District Attorney Patrick Driscoll played videos capturing the murder from the different angles from the seven surveillance cameras installed inside and outside the convenience store.

Superior Court Judge Rafi Yessayan warned the jurors of the video's graphic nature, but said that shouldn’t influence their verdict. In one video, the shooter is seen walking past the front door. Another shows him entering. Other camera angles show the shooter, who prosecutors allege is Coelho, pointing a gun in his left hand directly at Maheseth’s chest.

Another shows an injured Maheseth crumple to the ground.

Other still images presented at the beginning of the trial show several $5 bills littering the floor near the cash register.

Coelho, who prosecutors said was homeless at the time of the murder and on a crack cocaine bender with friends, is also on trial for robbing the 7 Days Food Mart at 182 Durfee St., less than 24 hours before Mahaseth, who owned a second Stop N Save on Locust Street, was shot to death.

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Prosecutors: Coelho was smoking crack leading up to robbery and murder

Mahaseth was remembered as a kind man by Rock Street neighbors and customers. After his killing, his body was flown back to his homeland in Nepal for a traditional Hindu ceremony.

In his opening statement to the jury, Collins outlined the prosecutions’ version of events on Oct. 18, 2021, when Maheseth had kept his store opened after its 9 p.m. closing. Coelho entered the business at 9:16 p.m. after pacing outside, dressed in black, with a black mask and a black shoulder bag over his chest.

“He walked into the store, lifted his left hand and pointed it over the counter. As he did that, the magazine clip from the semiautomatic gun was thrown from the gun and landed behind the counter,” said Collins.

That’s when Coelho went behind the counter “and squatted down to pick up the clip.”

Coelho’s defense attorney, Dana Sargent, during cross-examination with State Police Sgt. Jason Trask, a ballistics expert working with the Bristol DA’s office, noted that Coelho picked up the clip with his right hand.

Collins said while Coelho was picking up the clip, Maheseth was seen taking cash from the register as the defendant went back around the front of the counter.

That’s when Maheseth grabbed the chair and tried to throw it at Coelho.

“The defendant moved out of the way, went back in front of the counter, pointed the gun over the counter at Mr. Maheseth’s chest and fired one shot, struck Mr. Maheseth’s heart and killed him,” said Collins.

“He didn’t take any money. He fled from the store, went out around the corner and went east on Pine Street,” said Collins.

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Prosecutors: Other robbery has the same MO

The scene, said Collins, was very similar to the robbery the night before at the Durfee Street store, where a suspect wearing the same disguise and pointing a gun in his left hand at the cashier demanded money and made away with over $1,200 in cash. The robbery suspect fled in an awaiting black Volvo SUV.

Collins told the jury they would hear testimony that Coelho had been living in a hallway house at 251 Pine St., where he had been smoking crack cocaine with tenants, including Samuel Lozano, on Oct. 17, when “they decided they wanted more.”

Collins indicated that’s when Coelho dressed in black and was driven to the 7 Days Food Mart to rob it and spent another $250 on crack cocaine.

Police would arrest Coelho a week later at 251 Pine St.

Defense warns jury: Listen to evidence without prejudice

Sargent asked the jury to listen “to all of the evidence without drawing any conclusions.”

“Because each piece of evidence, whether they are asked by the commonwealth or they are asked by myself, are equally as important to look at the entire picture,” said Sargent. “Then you use your life experiences, your common sense. Your sensibilities of what makes sense and what doesn’t.”

“And not just to take the first idea from the commonwealth witnesses to say what they are expected to say,” said Sargent. “This is the one thing that separates us from other countries where someone is accused and taken out back and shot.”

Before opening statements and witness testimony from law enforcement, Yessayan told the jury that on Friday they would be transported by bus to the crime scene.

The court has set aside dates for trial to May 9.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Rock Street murder trial: Video cameras capture slaying of store owner