New Bedford Man Arrested in Taunton Armed Home Invasion

TAUNTON (WBSM) — Taunton Police arrested a New Bedford man after a resident was shot during an armed home invasion Friday night.

According to Taunton Police Chief Edward J. Walsh, officers responded to a home on Newcomb Place at 10 p.m. on December 22 after receiving a cell phone call from the area with a person screaming on the line.

Officers arrived at the multi-unit house and were informed by dispatch of a firearm involved in an ongoing disturbance. The officers announced their presence outside the home and were let inside to a second-floor apartment where two men were struggling on the ground, one on top of the other.

Because of the report of a firearm, the officers unholstered their own firearms and pointed them at the two men, ordering them to cease their struggling. They complied, and the officers noticed one man was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the leg.

The suspect, identified as Joshua Manuel DeLeon, 22, of New Bedford, was also injured, suffering head trauma and other injuries during the struggle. Police said a firearm was found near his person and that he was wearing body armor. Officers later found two additional firearms as well as three bullet casings on the floor.

“Based on apparent bullet holes, an apartment above, on the third floor, may have been fired into during the struggle,” police said in a release. “Officers met with a woman who lives on the third floor and ascertained that she – and her four children inside the apartment – were frightened but not injured.”

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DeLeon was transported to a local hospital before being transferred by med flight to a Boston hospital where he is being treated for him injuries while in police custody. The man who suffered the gunshot wound to the leg was taken to a different hospital where he was treated and is expected to recover.

“The two men are known to each other and that this incident was not a random act of violence,” police said. “It is believed that the conflict originated in a different community and spilled over to Taunton.”

DeLeon is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; assault and battery; assault with a dangerous weapon; armed assault with intent to murder; possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony; home invasion; possession of ammunition without an FID card; use of body armor in the commission of a felony; possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number; and discharge of a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.

He was previously arrested in New Bedford in April 2022 for allegedly possessing a “ghost” gun.