Alexander Muzarol

Convicted and sentenced. Alexander Muzarol, 15, of Salem, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in Salem Juvenile Court to shooting his 15-year-old girlfriend in the head in Beverly in October 2025 and was sentenced on November 10, 2026 to roughly 37 months in state custody, far below the eight-to-ten-year term prosecutors had requested.

Introduction

Alexander Muzarol is a 15-year-old Salem, Massachusetts boy who was sentenced on November 10, 2026 to just over three years in state custody after pleading guilty to shooting his girlfriend in the head on a Beverly street the year before. The sentence, roughly 37 months, was imposed in Salem Juvenile Court, where Muzarol had been prosecuted as a youthful offender on charges of armed assault with intent to murder after the October 11, 2025 shooting, which he committed at age 14. His victim, also 15, survived with severe permanent injuries and told the sentencing hearing that the attack still “affects me every single day.” Prosecutors had asked for eight to ten years; the judge imposed the 37-month term with Department of Youth Services placement until Muzarol turns 21, meaning, as the District Attorney’s office put it, he is “not expected to serve any time in state prison.”

Background Information

The shooting happened on Simon Street in Beverly on October 11, 2025, when Muzarol, then 14, opened fire on his 15-year-old girlfriend, according to Essex District Attorney Paul F. Tucker’s office. Prosecutors did not describe a motive in the statement announcing the sentence. In December, a grand jury indicted Muzarol as a youthful offender on charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and carrying a gun without a license. In Massachusetts, juveniles charged as youthful offenders for certain violent crimes can receive adult sentences, which they initially serve at a Department of Youth Services facility before any move to adult prison no later than age 21 — and their cases, unlike standard delinquency matters, are initially public record with defendants named, much like adult cases.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

The conduct Muzarol admitted to was the shooting itself: a guilty plea in Salem Juvenile Court to the attack that left his girlfriend with lifelong injuries. At the sentencing hearing, the victim delivered a statement describing the toll. “The crime did not just affect me on the day I was shot; it affects me every single day,” she said, according to the District Attorney’s statement. “I lost my health, my sense of safety, and the life I was supposed to have. My family has suffered, too, watching me fight for my life and helping me through every step of my recovery. Every day is a reminder of how this crime changed my life forever.” The plea and sentence resolved a case that had hung over both families since the shooting, with the victim’s permanent injuries documented by prosecutors as “severe.”

Public Reaction and Consequences

The gap between what prosecutors sought and what the court imposed became the story. Prosecutors had requested a sentence of between eight and ten years for Muzarol, with Department of Youth Services placement until he turned 18; instead, the judge imposed 37 months with DYS placement until he turns 21, a term the District Attorney’s office noted means he is “not expected to serve any time in state prison.” In his statement, Tucker said prosecutors had sought a state prison term because of “the seriousness of this offense and the devastating lifelong injuries suffered by the victim.” The sentencing hearing itself put the victim’s voice at the center, with her statement describing the loss of health, safety, and the life she had planned.

Current Status

Muzarol, 15, is in state custody under the 37-month youthful-offender sentence imposed November 10, 2026, to be served with Department of Youth Services placement until he turns 21. Because the term runs in the juvenile system, he is not expected to serve time in adult state prison. The guilty plea resolves the youthful-offender indictment on all three counts — armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, and carrying a gun without a license. No appeal was reported, and under Massachusetts law his youthful-offender records can be sealed after a period that normally extends for several years.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Muzarol will pass most of his remaining adolescence inside the Department of Youth Services system, with his release to come before he turns 21 and a youthful-offender conviction for shooting his girlfriend standing as the public record of his early teens. The victim, by contrast, lives with what her own statement describes: permanent injuries, a lost sense of safety, and daily reminders of an attack that happened on a walk in her own city. The sentence’s distance from what prosecutors requested — roughly three years in a juvenile facility against the eight to ten years sought — has made the case a local reference point in debates over how Massachusetts punishes its youngest violent offenders. For Muzarol, the practical effect is a custody term that ends in young adulthood, with the conviction and the restrictions that attach to it defining the life he returns to.

Sources

• The Boston Globe, “Salem teenager sentenced to 3 years in custody for shooting girlfriend in head, prosecutors say,” November 13, 2026 — source