LOWELL — Two Lowell High School students and two unidentified juveniles are facing several charges, including armed robbery, after police say they attacked a teenage boy and stole his backpack shortly after he stepped off a bus on Lincoln Street earlier this month.
Devonathan Thanongsinh and Fidell Chan, both 18, along with two 17-year-old boys whose names were redacted from Lowell Police reports due to their age, are accused of striking the victim in the face with a handgun that officers later recovered.
Police said they have not determined which suspect wielded the weapon.
The group also allegedly assaulted the victim’s 58-year-old grandfather when he tried to intervene in the attack.
According to an officer’s incident report, the assault occurred shortly after 3 p.m. on Dec. 5, when police were called to the 400 block of Lincoln Street for a report of a teen who had been attacked “by a group of kids” on the sidewalk.
When one of the responding officers arrived in the area, he saw a blue Mazda traveling the wrong way on a one‑way section of Lincoln Street and noticed a pickup truck farther up the road that appeared to have been involved in a crash. The Mazda, meanwhile, had heavy damage to its doors and tires, the report said.
The driver of the Mazda — later identified by police as Thanongsinh — attempted to maneuver around the cruiser but was unable to get by. The officer activated his lights and conducted a traffic stop.
“(Thanongsin) … denied being involved,” the officer said in the report. “I then asked what had happened to the vehicle in which he did not have an answer.”
The officer reported that three other “young male” occupants were inside the Mazda with Thanongsinh, including the two 17‑year‑old boys and Chan, who was seated in the rear driver’s‑side seat.
As the officer was speaking with the group, he was approached by a woman who said her son — whose name was redacted from the report — had just been assaulted by the four males in the Mazda.
According to the report, the woman told police she was inside her Lincoln Street home when she heard screaming outside. She tried calling her son, but he did not answer. Moments later, he ran into the house and told her he had been jumped.
Another family member approached the officer and said that one of the occupants of the Mazda had “used a handgun to pistol whip” the victim, the report said.
With that information, the officer told the four occupants to remain in the vehicle while additional units were called to the scene. At one point, one of the 17-year-olds allegedly opened his door and tried to get out despite the instructions.
The officer said in the report that he “commanded him to remain inside and to close the door in which he complied. I then further instructed all four occupants to remain inside and do not do anything too stupid. All complied.”
Once other officers arrived, the occupants were ordered out of the Mazda one at a time. None of them had weapons on them, according to the report, but officers spotted a handgun on the front passenger‑side floorboard in plain view.
The weapon turned out to be a 9mm loaded with a magazine containing nine rounds.
The victim later told police, according to the report, that he had just gotten off a bus with friends and was walking toward his home when a group approached him and struck him with a closed fist.
He also said he was hit in the face with a “hard object.”
He told police he could not identify his attackers because they were all dressed in black and wearing masks.
The teen said he “blacked out” during the assault, the report said. When asked whether he saw a gun, he said “I thought, I think I did,” but added he could not be certain.
A friend who had been walking with him told police he saw a gun as the group approached and immediately dropped his backpack and ran. Both his backpack and the victim’s were stolen and later allegedly found in the Mazda. The backpacks contained laptops and other personal belongings.
Police also interviewed the victim’s grandfather, who said he saw four males “punching and kicking” his grandson. He tried to intervene but said the group then turned on him, striking him multiple times in the nose and head and causing him to fall and feel as though he had been “knocked out.”
He said he was also unable to identify the attackers because they were dressed in black and wearing masks, according to the report.
After the alleged assault, the victim’s grandfather told police he saw the four attackers get into the Mazda and drive off. He said he got into his pickup truck and followed them around the block. As he did, the Mazda drove the wrong way onto Lincoln Street and allegedly struck a parked vehicle.
According to the report, the 58‑year‑old told officers he then positioned his truck to block the Mazda from leaving. The Mazda then is alleged to have struck his vehicle moments before the responding officer arrived on scene.
The officer said in his report that none of the four suspects claimed responsibility for the handgun found in the Mazda or for the assaults. He added that the incident “appeared to be a planned attack on the victims,” noting that surveillance footage showed the masked assailants punching both the teen and his grandfather before stealing the backpacks.
Both the teen and his grandfather were taken to Lowell General Hospital’s Saints Campus following the attack.
Thanongsinh and Chan, along with the two juveniles, were charged with masked armed robbery, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, assault and battery, and assault with a dangerous weapon.
Thanongsinh also faces a charge of leaving the scene of property damage.
Because of their ages, the outcomes of the juveniles’ cases were not available in court records.
Lowell District Court documents show that Thanongsinh and Chan were arraigned on Dec. 8 and ordered held without bail pending 58A dangerousness hearings on Dec. 11, a proceeding used to determine whether a defendant poses a risk to the public.
The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office requested they be held without bail. However, after those hearings, a judge set bail for both men at $2,000 cash, which they posted the same day.
Court documents show that roughly 30 letters were submitted in support of Thanongsinh as part of his 58A dangerousness hearing, including one from a Lowell High School staff member who said the 18‑year‑old “excelled academically” in the classes he taught during Thanongsinh’s sophomore year and again now as a senior.
“Throughout the time I have known him, Devonathan has consistently demonstrated maturity, responsibility and strong character,” the staff member said in the letter. “He approaches his coursework with diligence and focus. His academic performance as a sophomore stood out among his peers.”
The letter described him as “polite, respectful, and genuinely well‑mannered,” adding that he “conducts himself with kindness and humility, and interacts positively with both classmates and teachers.”
“He may have made some poor decisions, but I believe his foundation of strong character and his family will help him atone for those lapses in judgment and become the productive adult I know he can be if given the opportunity,” the staff member concluded.
Court records show neither Thanongsinh nor Chan have criminal records.
As a condition of their release on bail, both Thanongsinh and Chan were ordered to remain in the custody of their mothers, continue with their high school educations, avoid all contact with the victims and witnesses, possess no dangerous weapons, abstain from drugs and alcohol, and comply with a 24/7 curfew and GPS monitoring.
According to court documents, Thanongsinh was brought back to court the day after his release for what was initially believed to be a curfew violation.
His attorney, Thomas Torrisi, stressed on Friday that the allegation was later determined to be unfounded, explaining that Thanongsinh had not left his home and that the issue stemmed from a GPS signal problem.
“They determined he had absolutely never left the house, so there was no violation found by the judge,” Torrisi said.
Torrisi added about the case that “we’re very much at the infant stages at this point.”
“There’s an awful lot that still needs to be done before we’re in a position to know the totality of the circumstances,” he said.
Chan’s attorney, Stephen Barton, was unavailable for comment.
The pair are scheduled to return to court for a pretrial conference on Jan. 20.
Follow Aaron Curtis on X @aselahcurtis, or on Bluesky @aaronscurtis.bsky.social.