Suspects in murder of Worcester mother and daughter have long list of past charges

WORCESTER ― The two men who police say carried out Tuesday’s daylight shooting of a mother and daughter on Englewood Avenue have spent time in jail and have links to gangs, court records show.

A search of Worcester court records Thursday showed police have accused Karel Mangual, who was arraigned Thursday, and Dejan D. Belnavis, who remains a fugitive, of being gang members in the past.

Mangual, now 28, was sentenced to three to five years in prison following an alleged retaliatory shooting in 2014 and, according to court records, has a tattoo that reads “RIP Robert Walker.”

Robert Walker was an 18-year-old Blackstone man who died in 2013 after an altercation at a birthday party in Worcester.

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Collage Nuñez, the brother of Chasity Nuñez, the woman killed Tuesday, was sentenced to seven to 10 years in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to manslaughter in Walker’s death.  Also shot to death Tuesday was Chasity's 11-year-old daughter, Zella. They were sitting in an SUV when shot.

Authorities have not commented publicly on any potential motive behind the shooting, and Mangual’s lawyer, Richard Farrell, declined to comment Thursday beyond saying his client maintains his innocence.

The shooting Tuesday was the second in as many days in the city, as an 18-year-old was injured by gunfire near 2 Main St. around 4:30 p.m. Monday. A 17-year-old was fatally shot on Shannon Street on Feb. 12, found dead in a hospital by police after being driven there.

Multiple members of the Worcester Police Gang Unit were in court Thursday for Mangual's arraignment.

Police declined to comment on whether gang violence could have played a role in Tuesday’s shooting, noting a policy of not commenting on open cases.

Asked to comment on trends in violence in general, police spokesman Lt. Sean Murtha released statistics showing a decrease in nonfatal shootings, stabbings and reported gunshots in the first two months of 2024 as opposed to the same time period of 2023.

More: Chasity Nuñez, victim of Worcester homicide, remembered as exemplary employee, soldier

In a statement provided along with the statistics, Interim Police Chief Paul B. Saucier said: “These cowardly acts of gun violence need to stop now.  The Worcester Police Department’s number 1 goal is to investigate ‘trigger pullers’ and put them in prison, where they will be unable to create havoc in our communities.

“We must persistently advocate for the lengthy removal of these criminals from our neighborhoods until we can disrupt this cycle of violence.”

City Manager Eric Batista said in an emailed statement:

"The City of Worcester has and continues to prioritize violence prevention in a collective and holistic manner, particularly the prevention of youth violence, to prevent the cycle of violence from beginning. As a result, without question, the City of Worcester remains one of the safest midsize cities in the country. The tragic loss of a mother and daughter to violence in this manner is a rare occurrence for Worcester.

"The Youth Crisis Response Team, which is a part of the Worcester Youth Violence Prevention Initiative (WYVPI), was engaged immediately following Tuesday's incident. WYVPI is an entity under the City’s Governance Council on Children, Youth, and Families, and works constantly with community agencies to meet the youth where they are at and connect them to opportunities and resources to avoid the cycle of violence. This work is proactive with the WYVPI team meeting weekly."

Court records show both Belnavis and Mangual have been arrested multiple times by city police.

Karel Mangual

Mangual has multiple open cases in district courts in Dudley and Worcester, records show.

He was released on $1,000 bail in March 2023 on allegations from Webster police that include assault and battery on a police officer and carrying a dangerous weapon. A trial in that case is slated for March 26.

Mangual also has an open case in Central District Court after Worcester police alleged that they had caught him in March 2022 with 8 grams of suspected crack, which they believe he was selling on Main Street.

In another case out of Dudley District Court from 2023, he is facing charges of being a fugitive from justice after Webster police said he had an extraditable warrant out of Rhode Island for carrying a firearm without a license.

Mangual’s most serious case in Worcester County appears to be the 2014 shooting case, in which, police wrote in court documents, the victim “appeared to be suffering from five gunshot wounds to his groin area.” The victim survived.

According to police, Mangual and another man shot the victim as he went to enter a cab, which was also struck by gunfire, near 10 View St. on Oct. 4, 2014.

Mangual was sentenced to three to five years for the crime in 2015, records show. In 2019, he was rearrested in Worcester, records show, after police alleged he put his car into drive when an officer was attempting to remove him from the vehicle during a traffic stop.

“As part of (the officer’s body) was still in the car at the time, his right elbow was struck by the vehicle and he ‘kind of bounced off,’” the Massachusetts Appeals Court wrote in a 2022 decision upholding a conviction on assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (motor vehicle).

A city police officer alleged in that case that Mangual and another man in the car were “gang members with violent history including firearms charges,” the judges noted.

A judge sentenced Mangual to nine months in jail following the conviction, records show.

Dejan Belnavis

Belnavis, 27, has been charged in nearly 20 criminal cases in Central District Court, records show, many involving selling of marijuana or domestic violence.

Belnavis was sentenced to six months in jail in 2022 after a jury found him guilty of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

According to a judge’s summary of the allegations in a 2021 court document, Belnavis was accused of threatening a “rival gang member” with a firearm inside Worcester’s Walmart.

Prior to his trial, Belnavis was released on conditions that included wearing a GPS tracker, court records show. He was granted permission to fly to Los Angeles in November 2021 after his lawyer said in court documents that Belnavis was invited to a business function for a clothing line he owns.

Belnavis incorporated the company, The Bakery Apparels LLC, with the state in 2021, records show.

Belnavis does not appear to have any open cases in Worcester aside from the charges lodged Tuesday. Allegations of domestic assault, including strangulation, had been dropped against him in the past after women declined to testify against him, records show.

Belnavis received 90 days in jail in 2017 after pleading guilty to resisting arrest and selling marijuana.

Police had not announced an arrest of Belnavis as of Thursday night. He is considered armed and dangerous, and, police have said, was captured on video in Hartford, Connecticut, shortly after Tuesday’s shooting.

Mangual was also seen on video in Hartford after Tuesday’s shooting, but was arrested Wednesday in Worcester.

Police declined to comment Thursday on how they had tracked down Mangual.

Anyone with information on Belnavis’ whereabouts is asked to contact Worcester police.

Anonymous tips can be sent to the Worcester Police Department by text to 274637 TIPWPD + your message or at worcesterma.gov/police.

-With reports from staff writers Toni Caushi and Marco Cartolano

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester double murder suspects have long list of previous charges