Revere Man Faces Up to 25 Years for Reading Fatal Shooting Case

Middlesex District Attorney Gerry Leone announced that a Revere man pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter in connection with the death of Reading resident Joseph Ronan, 22, in August of 2011. Revere resident John Burke, 26, is facing up to 25 years in prison.

Burke pleaded guilty in Middlesex Superior Court to charges of manslaughter and illegal possession of a firearm, according to the release.  Burke was sentenced by Woburn Superior Court Judge S. Jane Haggerty to 18 to 20 years in prison for the manslaughter charge and four to five years on the gun possession charge.

“With this plea, the defendant has taken responsibility for shooting the victim, resulting in his death, over what appears to have been a dispute about money,” Leone said.  “I commend the Massachusetts State Police assigned to the District Attorney’s Office and the Reading Police for their thorough investigation which brings this case to an end, holds this defendant accountable, and brings the family of the victim some measure of justice today.”

Reading Police responded to the scene around 1 p.m. on August 15 in 2011. Police received calls regarding shots being fired at a home on Lawrence Road. Ronan was pronounced dead at the scene. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was multiple gun shot wounds and the manner of the death was homocide, according to the release.

Throughout the investigation authorities discovered that Burke arranged to meet Ronan to buy a Percocet pill. After Burke arrived, he shot Ronan three times because he thought Ronan was involved in a robbery of his apartment earlier that year.

Burke was arrested in Reading in late August of 2011 on charges of murder and illegal possession of a firearm.