Vigil Held for 19-Year-Old City Woman Gunned Down Outside Residence

Over one hundred people gathered outside the Verdean Gardens apartment building Friday to mourn the loss of a New Bedford woman who was gunned down in the parking lot earlier this week. 

 On Sunday evening around 10:10pm, Sabrina DaSilva, 19, was found with multiple gunshot wounds as she was heading into her apartment at 9 Bedford St., just south of downtown.

Friday, many friends and family spoke about the woman DaSilva was, who leaves behind a two-year-old daughter.

Sister Kathleen Carrancho thanked the large group for offering their support and asked her sister be remembered as the warrior she was.

"I didn't think we were that important but here you all are today just sending us love," Carrancho said. "I thank you so much for everything and I want you guys to remember my sister; she wasn't just another victim, she was a warrior and that's how she wants to be remembered."

DaSilva was enrolled at Bristol Community College in a certificate program to become a Portuguese to English translator.

Anthony Lopes is a cousin of DaSilva's and said she was always "the life of the party" at family gatherings and radiated positivity.

"She was always happy when she used to see me, she was always excited...always joking around with me, she was always a jokester," said Lopes.

City officials also attended the vigil and offered their own words of remembrance, including Mayor Jon Mitchell, Rep. Antonio Cabral, Councilor at Large Brian Gomes and New Bedford Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro. Cordeiro acknowledged the community's large outpouring of support as a testament to the city's good character.

"This is a representation of our great city," Cordeiro said. "A city of great people that do care and will come together and we will be better for this very unfortunate circumstance."

The chief continued with his constant message urging people to speak up within the city.

"We need to come together. We need to break the silence because silence is the path to violence."

The homicide, New Bedford's first in 2016, continues to be under investigation by the Bristol County District Attorney's Office.