The suspect accused of murdering a freshman on the Salem State University men’s basketball team early Wednesday is being held without bail.

Missael Peña Canela, 18, of Salem, pleaded not guilty to shooting and killing Carl-Hens Beliard during an arraignment at Salem District Court Thursday.

Authorities arrested Canela on the murder charge Wednesday evening, less than 24 hours after they found Beliard, 18, inside a vehicle suffering from a gunshot wound blocks away from campus.

Emergency responders took Beliard to Salem Hospital where medical personnel pronounced him dead.

A female inside the vehicle at the time shots were fired is said to have had an “on-again, off-again relationship” with Canela, according to prosecutor Erin Bellavia, assistant district attorney for Essex County.

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Bellavia said that investigators found that Canela smashed the female’s phone in September and the suspect “indicated he was looking for the female party in the area of the stolen car.”

“He believed it to be her inside of it,” Bellavia said, “and then fired the shots when the male party, the victim in this case, attempted to drive the vehicle forward, away from this defendant.”

Salem Police responded to a report of a shooting and car crash in the area of 22 Forest Ave., near a university student parking lot, at about 1:24 a.m. Wednesday, hours after Halloween festivities had ended.

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