Son of Quincy developer indicted in shooting of off-duty firefighter

O’Connell was indicted by a Norfolk County grand jury Monday, Traub said.

O’Connell’s family helped develop the Granite Links Golf Club at Quarry Hills on the Milton-Quincy line, as well as Marina Bay, the upscale complex of housing, restaurants and clubs, offices, and a marina built at the mouth of the Neponset River on the site of the former Squantum Naval Air Station.

The shooting left Joseph Fasano, 30, at the time a Milton firefighter who was off duty, hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, from which he has since recovered, Traub said.

The shooting took place shortly before midnight on Dec. 12, 2009, on a ramp at Hancock Street and Commander Shea Boulevard in Quincy, police said.

Police said Fasano was with his girlfriend, who told police the driver of a sports car in front of their Jeep Cherokee repeatedly jammed on his brakes; both drivers stopped and got out of their cars, and Fasano was shot in the chest. The driver of the sports car then drove away, she told police

The car, a Porsche, was identified as belonging to Robert O’Connell, who later turned himself into police and was charged with attempted murder, police said.

Traub said the prosecutor's office unsuccessfully tried to have O’Connell held without bail under the dangerous person statute after he pleaded not guilty at his Quincy District Court arraignment. O’Connell has been free on $500,000 cash bail, Traub said.

O'Connell's indictment transfers the case to the Norfolk Superior Court.

Police originally described the incident as “road rage” but later reports indicated a relationship between O’Connell’s family and Fasano’s girlfriend.

Fasano, who joined the Milton Fire Department in September 2005, was fired earlier this month for insubordination and unbecoming conduct. He has appealed his dismissal to the Civil Service Commission.

Fire Chief John J. Grant fired Fasano following an investigation by an outside hearing officer into the shooting and information that surfaced about a previous domestic violence case involving Fasano.

The report from the hearings officer concluded that Fasano had been insubordinate by refusing to answer some of the questions posed by the internal investigation, according to Town Administrator Kevin Mearn.

The report also found “conduct unbecoming” for a firefighter. That involved Fasano’s arrest in 2007 in Weymouth for a domestic violence charge against a former girlfriend, Mearn said. He said Grant did not know about Fasano’s arrest, and subsequent probation, until it came out in news reports after last year’s shooting.

Johanna Seltz can be reached at seelenfam@verizon.net.