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Bail set at $500K in Quincy road rage case

E-mail|Link December 16, 2009 04:14 PM

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

QUINCY – A judge set bail at $500,000 today for the son of a prominent developer who allegedly shot an off-duty Milton firefighter during what police have described as an incident of road rage.

Robert P. O'Connell, 40, is accused of shooting Joseph Fasano, 30, in the abdomen on Saturday night with a .45-caliber handgun after the two men pulled over on Commander Shea Boulevard to exchange words.

Quincy District Court Judge Mark Coven set bail for O'Connell at $500,000 cash or $5 million in surety, while ordering that if O'Connell did make bail, he would be placed under 24-hour home confinement.

The judge said at a dangerousness hearing that there was probable cause to believe that O'Connell had committed the crime, and there was no clear and convincing evidence that any other type of confinement would work.

John McGlone, O'Connell's defense attorney, said he expected his client would spend the night at the Norfolk County jail, but the O'Connell family was scrambling to raise the bail money so he could be released as soon as possible.

"Right now we are looking at this as a road rage incident," said Chief Paul Keenan of the Quincy Police Department.

O'Connell's father ran for mayor a few years ago in Quincy, Keenan said, and his family helped build Marina Bay, a landmark luxury development on the waterfront. O'Connell has been charged with assault, attempted murder, and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.

But McGlone insisted today that his client was innocent, saying that he expects him to be exonerated by ballistic tests which will prove that his .45-caliber handgun was not used in the shooting.

"He's shaken up," McGlone said. "He's being accused of a crime he had nothing to do with."

Initial police reports described the shooter as driving a silver car, McGlone said, but O'Connell has a brown Porsche Carrera, which police have impounded.

On Saturday night, Fasano was driving near his home when he got into a confrontation with the driver of a sports car. Both cars pulled over on Commander Shea Boulevard near the North Quincy Red Line Station.

The drivers exchanged words, police said, and the other driver pulled out a .45-caliber handgun and shot Fasano in the abdomen. Fasano remains in critical condition at Boston Medical Center.

O'Connell is the son of Peter O'Connell, one of Quincy's most prominent developers who ran for mayor in 1989 but lost by 22 percentage points to Jim Sheets. Sheets, who served as mayor from 1990 to 2002, said he admires the O’Connell family and that hey have played “a major role in the development of Quincy.”

“I’m just shocked,” he said. “It’s really hard for me to believe. I’ve only heard good things about Robert. It’s certainly very much out of context with my knowledge of him. Absolutely out of context.”

He described the suspect’s father as “a very creative developer who always did projects that were well-done, well-thought-out.”

“Peter O’Connell’s story is really a rags to riches story,” he said. “His dad was a milkman and he began selling newspapers by the shipyard. He is a very outstanding man. I have nothing but respect for him, and that’s why this whole thing is very shocking to me.”

Police pointed to several pieces of evidence today tying Robert O'Connell to the crime. Private security cameras at the scene of the shooting captured footage that showed O'Connell fleeing the area in his Porsche, police said. At Marina Bay, more security cameras showed O'Connell returning home.

Police searched O'Connell's condominium at Marina Bay and found several firearms, including two .45-caliber handguns. O'Connell did have a valid permit to carry firearms, Keenan said. That permit has been revoked.

Investigators found a bullet shell casing at the scene of the shooting and doctors recovered a bullet fragment from Fasano's body. Ballistic tests will be performed to determine whether one of the .45-caliber handguns found in O'Connell's apartment fired the bullet.

Fasano joined the Milton Fire Department in 2005 and as a junior member of the force covers vacation and sick shifts. He bounces between firehouses but does not have a specific engine or truck, according to Chief Jack Grant, who was encouraged by the news today that someone had been charged with the shooting.

"We are certainly happy to hear that, and we commend the Quincy Police Department," for making an arrest so quickly, Grant said.