By Geena Monahan-For the North Star Reporter
A Bristol County jury on Friday convicted an East Providence, Rhode Island, man of first-degree murder in the 2021 fatal shooting of a North Attleborough resident, according to court records.
Adam Walker, 38, was found guilty June 12 in Fall River Superior Court of first-degree murder, carrying a firearm without a license and carrying a loaded firearm without a license in connection with the death of Peter Schifone.
Judge Thomas Perrino sentenced Walker to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge. Court records show he also received concurrent sentences of three to five years on the firearm without a license charge and one year on the loaded firearm charge.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Patrick Driscoll and Daniel Walsh of the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.
According to prosecutors, Schifone, 38, was shot once in the abdomen on May 26, 2021, at the threshold of his apartment at 64 High St. in North Attleborough.
Trial evidence showed Schifone had been in communication with Walker earlier that day and met with him before the shooting, according to a statement released by Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III.
Prosecutors said surveillance footage captured Walker’s vehicle leaving the High Street residence before the shooting and showed him returning to the area on foot later.
Approximately nine minutes after Walker arrived at the property, video footage showed him running from the scene at around the same time a 911 call was placed, reporting that Schifone had been shot, according to prosecutors.
Investigators recovered the firearm used in the shooting from a wooded area in East Providence. Prosecutors said data recovered from Walker’s cellphone placed him in the same area where the weapon was found just hours after the killing.
Under Massachusetts law, first-degree murder convictions are automatically reviewed by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Court records show Walker was advised Friday of that right.
“I am pleased that the jury held the defendant accountable for this senseless premeditated murder,” Quinn said in a statement. “This case went through a lengthy court process. I am pleased that the verdict will provide the family some consolation for the loss of their loved one.”