Not a lot of information on this one, but Salem Police say a 21-year-old woman was shot this afternoon at the Field of Dreams park off Geremonty Drive.
The call came in at 3:53 p.m., and officers found the woman suffering from a single gunshot wound.
She was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and then flown to Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston.
No other information was provided. No word on arrests.
Still no updates on the investigation from either Lowell Police or the DA's office. I've been checking more than daily.
I have a theory on this one, but I'm not in the business of sharing theories. People shouldn't mistake a failure to comment for a failure to make progress, though.
I'm still waiting for word of arrests or other developments.
It was a tough week in Pawtucketville.
In addition to the double-murder, two women on White Street, not far at all from the murder scene, were robbed at gunpoint about 8:30 Thursday night.
Two guys pulled up in a car as the women were walking, one pointed a gun at the women, slid back the slide to load it, and demanded their purses. Both women handed over their bags with cash and credit cards inside.
The women were apparently composed enough to get the car's license plate as it drove off, though. No small feat when you've just come face to face with the barrel of a gun.
Police then spotted the car at Rock and Fletcher streets Friday morning about 2:20 a.m., and arrested Ariel Hernandez, 21, of 9 Phillips St., second floor, and Giovanni Hill, 20, of 70 Agawam St.
Both are charged with armed robbery while masked.
Hernandez is additionally charged with carrying a firearm without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, and failure to stop for a stop sign.
Hernandez has been accused of this sort of thing before.
In early December, 2006, he was arrested along with Juan Ramirez, then 18, of 293 Pawtucket Blvd., after someone spotted both of them hiding in the bushes outside a pizza shop with masks on their faces and what appeared to be a handgun.
Police gave chase and ended up catching them. It turned out Hernandez had a BB gun in that instance.
In that case, both men were charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery while masked and disorderly conduct. Hernandez was also charged with resisting arrest and assault with a dangerous weapon (BB gun).
I couldn't find any old stories about whether he was ever convicted, though, so for all I know he could have been cleared of those charges. There's just no way to check that sort of thing late on a Saturday night.
I point out in my story on this today that it seems a bit odd that there have been three double-murders in Lowell this decade, and all three involved brothers being killed.
The Donovan brothers murder in 2002, the Lincoln Street killing of Moises Cotto and John Tejada in 2004, and now the murder of the Delgado brothers, Luis and Hector.
Luis, who most folks called Tony, was well-known downtown, and a face most folks who spend time there have probably seen.
Nick Petrakos, who owns the Shamrock, was crushed. He and Tony went way back because Tony used to work as a concierge at the the Doubletree, and would bring hotel guests over to the Shamrock for a bite to eat or a few drinks.
They were very close friends.
Tony and Hector both had kids, Tony's son is 11 or 12, Hector's son is about 2. Both were doting fathers.
I've heard nothing bad about either of these guys. Even Kathleen Marcin, president of the Downtown Lowell Neighborhood Association said Tony was a good guy that she never heard a bad thing about.
Hopefully investigators are making some progress. They were very very tight-lipped about the whole thing tonight.
I'll post updates as I hear about them, but I got very little from police sources tonight.
Oh Shane Carney, we hardly knew ya.
In 1988, at the tender age of roughly 12, police tell me you pushed another young boy into the Pawtucket Canal near the Francis Gatehouse. That other boy drowned, and according to police you were convincted of murder.
Since you were so young, you were eventually released from custody.
And it was 2002 before you were arrested for assaulting a police officer, destroying property, making threats and disorderly conduct.
It was 2004 when you were arrested for assault with a dangerous weapon.
It was 2006 when you were once again arrested for assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, assaulting someone else, and disorderly conduct.
I'm not sure you were ever convicted after those arrests, so I won't assume you were guilty.
But on July 18, 2008, when a combination of city, state and federal agencies arrested you for selling a handgun and 84 rounds of ammunition to a cooperating federal witness, you really got yourself in some trouble.
You pled guilty in June to being a felon in possession of ammunition, and today you were sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.
We barely got a chance to enjoy your company here in Lowell.
Farewell, Shane Carney, 32, formerly of 549 Pine St.
I do my best to be fair to those who have not yet been convicted, since surely police arrest the innocent at least every once and a while, but you went and got yourself convicted.
The City Lowell, and all your associates in TRG - Gray will surely miss you.
There is no such thing as parole when it's federal prison that you call home.
Chelmsford Police reported tonight that an officer responding to a domestic assault right in the heart of the town center between Bartlett Street and Boston Road shot a 37-year-old woman in the leg after she fled the scene, and then made the officer fear for his safety tonight.
Details are few, which is not unusual when an investigation this touchy is just getting started, but Chief James Murphy said officers went to the home at 6:33 p.m., learned a domestic assault had taken place and that a suspect had fled.
Officers soon found that suspect in a small stand of trees between 4 Bartlett St., and the town library, and the woman did something to make the officer fear for her safety. He fired his service weapon at least once, hitting her in the leg.
The woman was taken to Lowell General Hospital with what were said to be non life-threatening injuries.
Here is the only picture I could get of officers investigating at the scene. All my other shots came out blurry.
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Murphy said it's standard proceedure that the officer involved was placed on paid administrative leave, as police and the DA's office investigates. Town Manager Paul Cohen said tonight that his understanding is that a second officer, who did not fire a weapon, was also placed on paid leave because he or she was at the scene.
For those who want to read about the incident in Murphy's own words, here is a link to the press release.
Keep an eye out for more on this in the coming days.
UPDATE: Chief Murphy has identified the officer involved as Officer Timothy Bourke, 38, who is a twelve year veteran of the force.
The updated press release is available for download here.
We also talked to several folks who live or work around the center today, and two of them said they heard three gunshots.
Remember my earlier entry on the nearly fatal shooting that took place on Moody Street on Aug. 1, and my subsequent blog entry about a suspect police were searching for?
Well, it turns out Otty Ortiz turned himself in at Lowell District Court on Friday on a warrant charging him with armed assault with intent to murder.
At his arraignment, prosecutors asked that he be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing, which was scheduled for this Friday.
Judge Neil Walker scheduled the hearing, at which evidence will be presented to determine whether Ortiz is too much of a danger to the public to be released pending trial. He then released Ortiz on personal recognizance in the meantime.
Sorta makes you hope they don't go to court on Friday and realize this guy was too dangerous to be free eh?
Police and the DA's office declined to comment on this one even slightly on Monday, but several officers have privately voiced a lot of concern and frustration about this to me.
Police even took the rare step of issuing a press release about this guy before he was in custody, because they were that worried about him being out and about, and wanted to catch him that bad.
Go figure.
Ortiz will be back in court for his dangerousness hearing on Friday.
