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Mansfield High grad victim of shooting
 Andrew Colwell
Top Headlines Andrew Colwell, 18, of Tanya Drive was gunned down in his Jeep Cherokee outside the Edgewood Condominiums on Erick Road about 7 p.m. Monday. Police are still searching for up to three suspects in the shooting. Colwell had graduated a month ago today from Mansfield High where he had consistently been on the honor roll. He had also been on the high school boys' tennis team in the spring of 2007. The shooting turned the normally quiet East Mansfield neighborhood into a virtual war zone as a police SWAT team and police helicopter combed the area and nearby woods for the suspects. About 30 members of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council Regional Tactical Response Team, wearing bullet proof vests and toting assault rifles, searched the neighborhood assisted by Mansfield police, state police and state police K-9 units. Police flooded streets in the area, including Route 106. There was a police helicopter flying above the area, shining a beam of light on the ground. Neighbors reported someone running from the scene of the shooting. Colwell was in a running Jeep that was parked in the housing complex's parking lot at the time of the shooting. Later, the vehicle was surrounded by yellow police crime scene tape and lit up for the investigation. Chief Arthur O'Neill assured tense neighbors, who were notified by the town's reverse 911 system, they were safe. Police hoped to provide an update on the crime about noon today. Leah Gramazio and her husband Michael have lived in one of the condominium buildings for just over a year. She noted it was the second time in a week the SWAT team had been called to the neighborhood. Last Wednesday night, a 53-year-old man was arrested after allegedly threatening others with a rifle. That incident was unrelated to Monday night's shooting, police said. "This is absurd," Leah Gramazio said. She also said she is growing concerned about the neighborhood she said had been real quiet. "I moved from Brockton to get away from it," added Michael Gramazio, referring to violence. Check this site for more updates as the day progresses.
Post Your Comments mo312 wrote on Jul 27, 2008 8:36 PM: " My God, This young, smart man made a mistake. He may have been asked to do it for a friend or someone may have threatend him to do it. We do not know the circumstances. He did not know the circumstances of what he was getting involved with. HE IS A KID!! Why not give him the benefit of the doubt. All of you who are saying negatives things about him should find another venue to share your feelings with. The majority of us feel quite different from you. We would like to honor him and we have no room for you. Thank you!! " NDM28 wrote on Jul 10, 2008 12:17 PM: " mmmhh funny Mr. Jones, while you call me a scum bag, what do you call drug deallers, what would you call the person who sold your son or daughter drugs? I am just pointing out that we should not white wash this young man's actions that lead to his death, you should use it as a teaching tool for your kids, not all drug deallers are people from the inner city, he can be the "good" kid from next door, I know how much drugs cost, becuase I went to Mansfield High and it was common knowledge who was selling and how much it cost " smk005 wrote on Jul 9, 2008 8:11 PM: " Andy WAS a good kid. Sometimes people get caught up in things for whatever reasons and nobody will ever know why. I can't even believe I have to defend that. He was an honor roll student, on the tennis team, extremely popular, was college-bound, and loved by many many people. People make mistakes and get involved in the wrong things, and unfortunately, his cost him his life. Hopefully people will learn from this, as the drug scene in Mansfield is HUGE among people in his age group... 'good kids' and 'bad kids' alike. But this does not take away from the life he lived and the people he touched. So if you did not know him, I think you should reserve your judgements for someone else and keep it to yourself because people that are grieving are reading this. " mr. jones wrote on Jul 9, 2008 5:43 PM: " ndm28 how do you know 3/4 goes for 1000 dollars? " mr. jones wrote on Jul 9, 2008 5:42 PM: " You are both scum bags. You're going to trash the kid after he lost his life? His parents or family could read this article. " ndm28 wrote on Jul 9, 2008 3:08 PM: " Mansfield is a good town, it is a shame that a young man was killed over $1000 worth of pot. This kid was 18 and dealing in significant quanties of drugs, this was not a personal use amount. What constitutes a "great family" this kid was a drug dealler, he was 18 and lived with his parents, where were they? of course he was popular, he was probably selling drugs to your kids " realist wrote on Jul 9, 2008 1:57 PM: " A good kid? He was trying to sell marijuana. How does the commission of a felony make him "a good kid"? " smk005 wrote on Jul 9, 2008 2:14 AM: " What matters is that someone is dead. Andy was a wonderful person, and if you were fortunate enough to know him... you'd understand what a tragedy this is. Mansfield is supposed to be a safe place, a shooting is not something that happens everyday obviously and I commend the actions of the police because clearly they are making some progress, now that they have taken someone into custody. Andy came from a great family and my heart is breaking for them right now, and I hope that through all this, nobody forgets that at the end of the day a family is grieving and a promising young life has been lost. Andy's parents said it best when they said that nothing he could have done could have possibly justified being killed, but sadly, we will never know his side of the story. As for the 'mistakes' in the initial article, who CARES?! That is so petty, I can't even believe that someone is even concerned about this and wasting their time. Since I heard about what happened last night, I have been so sick to my stomach over the loss, to even think someone is sitting here worrying about 'property values' makes me even more sick. Mansfield is a wonderful place, and if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere. Take your complaints elsewhere- I just pray andy's family doesnt read those insensitive remarks. They're hurting enough. " pdwife wrote on Jul 8, 2008 11:41 PM: " As the wife of one of the Mansfield officers on the scene I know that he went deep into the woods with a dog. His uniform was an absolute mess-he worked very hard to find the shooter. I guess "next door neighbor" would have liked him to risk his life more than just trying to potentially sneak up on a potentially hiding killer by announcing his whereabouts so the neighbors can all know he is "adequately" doing his job. Give me a break. My heart goes out ot Andrew's family and friends. God bless. " AnnieH wrote on Jul 8, 2008 7:29 PM: " My heart aches for Andy's family. My heart aches for my daughter who lost a friend. Life is much to short to make judgments. A life has been lost. Allow this to be a place of peace. God bless you Andy! " liss wrote on Jul 8, 2008 7:09 PM: " Don't correct the article. The press softens things towards the public, and glorifies police activity, so that we feel more secure. Just roll with it, okay? There was noooo need for you to post all that you did- all it did was make you look selfish. " alynn wrote on Jul 8, 2008 6:34 PM: " It's hard to deal with. And I'm not offended by the corrections to the police reports but as long as the police know what's going on readers posts aren't going to mean much. What should be more important is that a teenager is dead, that's the most important thing. " NextDoorNeighbor wrote on Jul 8, 2008 5:10 PM: " To those of you who objected to my comments, none of my comments were directed at the victim, but the article and the tragedy in general. I was trying to set the record straight that this article is full of erroneous information. As I mentioned,"The sad truth is that this young man died, and that's tragic regardless of where it happened." It is truly awful for any family to endure such a loss, and I know this from firsthand experience. No one can disagree with that. " liss wrote on Jul 8, 2008 4:59 PM: " I can't believe some of the comments I'm reading here. A good half of you are completely heartless. To Andrew's family, my thoughts are with you. I'm sorry you have to endure this. " jesus wrote on Jul 8, 2008 4:51 PM: " i want to send a message to the family of andrews may god be your family and you are in my thaughts and prayers god bless " notmyneighborhoodbut... wrote on Jul 8, 2008 4:31 PM: " I am VERY glad that NextDoorNeighbor is not MY neighbor. Can you be any less heartless?! I don't even live in this town, though I have many friends here, and there is one major factor you are overlooking, that many others have already pointed out: a family has lost their son to a very heartwrenching tragedy. And you have to take the time to repost the breakdown of last night's events? Extremely sad. In any event, from your neighboring town of Attleboro, my heart goes out to the family, and to the neighborhood who is affected and may you find peace in the coming days and weeks ahead. " oneinhand wrote on Jul 8, 2008 3:54 PM: " An 18 year old young man was killed an all you people seem to care about is your property values. I can't beleve what I am reading. I Bet you would not be caring if it were your family member. Congrats Mansfield Pd for keeping the citizens safe, and not caring about property values!!! " mansfieldissafe wrote on Jul 8, 2008 3:30 PM: " First off I would like to mention that 99.9% of the first news reports are always lacking KEY pieces of the entire story. Secondly- if nextdoor neighbor had seen any of the news footage they would haev seen that the car was not on the grass. Why cant everyone just mourn the loss and send prayers to poor victims family and friends until the real story comes about? Until then it is not okay to pass your personal judgement on the individual OR the Police Department. Not only are there key facts that are kept under lock and key for investigation reasons but also for the families privacy. All in all- send your prayers- not your accusations of how things went down- just be glad you were safe and received a call from the wonderful Police staff that Mansfield fortuantely has. PS- It's not societies or mansfields fault there are crazy wackos that bring issues to the town. There's always a missing piece to each puzzle. God Bless. " goldfish2011 wrote on Jul 8, 2008 3:03 PM: " I was standing outside of my house and a state trooper told me to get inside and lock the doors. He completely filled me in on the story at 10pm saying, "There was a shooting and one person is dead, get inside." I don't think police can be any more informative. All I can say is nothing like this should ever happen and the fact that these criminals are still loose is frightening to say the least. My heart goes out to the victim's family and let's all hope these scum-bags get caught and get rightfully convicted. " mansfieldmom3 wrote on Jul 8, 2008 2:55 PM: " A parent should never have to live an event like this. May God give them the faith and strength they'll need to endure this terrible terrible nightmare. " upset24 wrote on Jul 8, 2008 2:48 PM: " I live right in front of where this shooting took place and I did receive a reverse 911 call and I also saw several k9 units in several parts of the development. The purpose of K9 dogs is to pick up a scent, I think that the police handled this situation the best they could without starting a panic. When I came into the development from work with my children, the state trooper at the end of Erick Rd. advised me to keep the kids inside. Regardless of what people felt should have been done, let us not forget than a mother now has to bury a child, that is not how life is suppose to be. " NextDoorNeighbor wrote on Jul 8, 2008 2:24 PM: " My original comments were deleted. Fortunately, I saved them to post again. " NextDoorNeighbor wrote on Jul 8, 2008 2:23 PM: " This story about the Mansfield shooting is wrong. What happened to fact-checking? I live (literally) about 20-30 feet from where this incident occured, and although I did not see the shooting nor the suspects, I was home the entire time before, during, and after the incident, witnessing the circus of police cars on Erick Road that ensued after the shooting. There are several things that need to be corrected: " NextDoorNeighbor wrote on Jul 8, 2008 2:22 PM: " 1. The jeep was not parked in the parking lot. It was in the grass, adjacent to the parking lot, between the trees, the street, and the mailboxes. 2a. While some of us have decided that we don't particularly feel safe after last night's incident, our neighborhood wasn't a "virtual war zone", as this article states. There was one shooting. A war zone would constitute multiple people firing weapons at each other and innocent bystanders. Having a SWAT team show up in camoflague doesn't make it a warzone; that makes it a bad wardrobe judgement call and a show of force by the police. 2b. This incident happened mere feet from my front door, but we never received this "reverse 911" call that reportedly happened. Bogus. On top of that, no one from the police department came around and asked questions, checked on residents, etc. We went to our neighbors ourselves and checked on them. Who is this Chief O'Neill person, and why is his statement wrong? We could have potentially been killed by a stray bullet, but still no one would have known because the police didn't check. " NextDoorNeighbor wrote on Jul 8, 2008 2:19 PM: " 3. The police actually never came into the condo complex past the crime scene to even look for the suspects nor to look for evidence. There are many, many places in the winding structure of the condo complex itself and in the woods behind the condos where suspects could hide. The forest behind us has several paths and trails in it for anyone to hide or flee the scene to another neighborhood behind it, if the suspects were indeed on foot as many of our neighbors told us. 4. The K-9 unit was used around the Jeep to search for evidence. That's it. They didn't use these dogs anywhere around our buildings (nor the woods) to search for suspects. If they used these dogs anywhere else, we didn't see it. The statement: "About 30 members of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council Regional Tactical Response Team, wearing bullet proof vests and toting assault rifles, were searching the neighborhood assisted by Mansfield police, state police and state police K-9 units" makes it sound like these K-9 units were used to search our neighborhood for the suspects. " NextDoorNeighbor wrote on Jul 8, 2008 2:18 PM: " 5. Ms.Gramazio from Brockton stated that she moved to this neighborhood a little over a year ago to get away from the violence in Brockton. I've lived here for almost four years, and aside from the occasional car theft, it's been fairly quiet the entire time, until this week. Her quote makes it sound like we're practically living in Detroit or East St. Louis. I've lived in and near places like these that make this particular neighborhood look like Disneyland. My response is this: Brockton is no picnic either, Leah. The sad truth is that this young man died, and that's tragic regardless of where it happened. These things can happen anywhere - this one just happened to take place here. I'd say that now we are due for a long period of returning to quiet neighborhood status. Stick around, Ms. Gramazio. In general, it's misleading and erroneous for anyone to say that our quiet neighborhood was turned into a "virtual war zone". This statement is the biggest slap in the face. Property values drop enough on their own, especially with the real estate market performing as poorly as it is. We don't need rediculous statements and erroneous news reports making the situation worse. It's sad that this happened at all, but it makes us wonder why this took place here in our neighborhood when the victim lived in another neighborhood on route 106, blocks away. " shocked123 wrote on Jul 8, 2008 1:25 PM: " This is so sad. I don't know what has become of Mansfield and the people in it but this is truly devestating. My heart goes out to his family and friends...may he always rest in peace. " oldbastard wrote on Jul 8, 2008 12:30 PM: " Someone responded that the police did not give them a reverse 911 call. I got one and as I live very close to the area I appreciated it. The police acted appropriately. This was probably a murder and those who commit this crime are usually desperate and have no regard for others. " or
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