PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Michael Victoriano of Lynn talks about cleaning up the playgrounds so children have safe places to go.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
LYNN — After six weekend shootings left five people shot, one fatally, and one woman caught in the crossfire who narrowly avoided being hit by a bullet that went through the driver’s side window of her car, about 40 residents and elected officials gathered at City Hall on Tuesday to try to come up with ways to stop the violence.
City Councilor Brian LaPierre, City Councilor and member of Stop the Violence Lynn Committee Peter Capano, and Interim Police Chief Lenny Desmarais fielded questions at the forum.
Capano said a few years ago, there was lots of gang activity in the city, which prompted a group of local citizens to come together and form Stop the Violence.
“The point is, I think the most constructive use of the time is if we can talk about prevention because we can’t stop what happens day to day,” Capano told the gathered residents. “We try. We do the best we can but I think working together to reach out to some of these kids getting into trouble is what we need to do. We need to do a better job of it.”
Leife Martin said he’s lived in Lynn for a couple of years, but his wife was born and raised in the city.
“When I bought the house here, I was told by family — I have a ton of family in Lynn — I was told that all of this gang violence was gone. A lot of these gangs were gone. So, I was kind of surprised when I read this weekend that there’s gang wars … Are gangs a bigger problem than we’re led to believe?”
Desmarais said gang violence and gangs are an issue in Lynn, but couldn’t say at this time if the shootings over the weekend are gang-related.
“We do believe all of the violence was targeted,” he said. “We can’t say at this time, this gang member went after that gang member.”
Before the meeting, Desmarais told The Item that several of the shootings that followed the Chestnut Street fatal shooting on Friday night that killed 29-year-old Hanky Betancourt, could be connected to that homicide. He said police are under the opinion that several of the incidents are related, and people doing the shooting or getting shot knew each other.
“It’s not random violence,” Desmarais said. “There’s an ongoing dispute between some groups.”
Desmarais said police don’t believe the Austin Square shooting that occurred before the Chestnut Street homicide or the Hanover Street shooting are related. Police responded to Melrose Wakefield Hospital just before 3 a.m. on Friday to find a 21-year-old man from Lynn with non-life-threatening injuries from two bullet wounds. The man told police he had been shot at Austin Square near the 7-Eleven. Police responded to a double shooting on Hanover Street shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, and found two Lynn men, 17 and 19, who had been shot in the lower legs. Police think that incident was a drug deal gone bad.
“At this time, my opinion would be that the ones that followed the Chestnut Street (fatality), with the exception of Hanover Street, might quite possibly be related, Desmarais said. “We’re working hard with State Police to investigate every one of the shootings.”
He said Lynn District Court Probation is reaching out to people who may or may not have knowledge of the incidents to warn them to not get involved in retaliation.
The other shootings included a shots-fired incident on Hamilton Avenue Friday night at 11:17 p.m. Several shell casings were recovered, and a house on the street was struck with gunfire. Police responded to gunshots on Neptune Boulevard on Saturday shortly before 4:30 p.m to find two cars hit, but no victims.
About an hour later, police spoke to 51-year-old Lynn native Lorraine Blowers DePietro, who told The Item on Sunday she was driving her brother-in-law’s gold SUV on Goodridge Street shortly before 5:30 p.m. when a bullet narrowly missed her after going through the driver’s side window, lodging itself in the leather seat she was sitting in. Police later responded to Salem Hospital to find a 26-year-old male shooting victim, who told them he was shot while walking on Goodridge Street.
DePietro’s sister, Kristin Blowers Melendez, spoke at the forum on Tuesday. She said she’s just thankful her sister is alive.
“How can we help end some of this violence?” Melendez asked. “There’s some people that are afraid to go out during the day, and some that are afraid to drive at night now. Why let somebody else dictate your life and keep you hidden?”
Some of the options floated for preventing violence included starting a neighborhood crime watch, providing after-school resources to help youth stay out of trouble, and securing grants to pay for those programs.
Tony Seaforth spoke about opening up the schools at night to give kids somewhere to go.
“Let’s educate the youth now so we can stop them from becoming violent offenders or ending up in the paper for the wrong reason,” he said. “I would be labeled a gang member if you would have known me 15, 16 years ago. But I think we’re throwing that term around a little too loosely when you think about the violence. From when I grew up, there’s been a huge shift. My mom lives in the Highlands. I’m not afraid to walk the streets of the Highlands. I’m not afraid to get shot. I think a lot of this was isolated incidents. There’s so many great things going on … I spent the weekend in Washington D.C. and that’s so much more dangerous than Lynn, Massachusetts.”
Michael Victoriano also spoke about the importance of resources.
“I think what we’re dealing with is a lack of self-worth when it comes to the perpetrators of these crimes,” he said. “So, I can only speak on what I know. I do believe that resources are what’s actually important, opportunities or resources for our youth, in order to keep them from feeling so bad about themselves that they don’t value their own lives anymore (that) they put themselves in these positions or situations.”
Brian Castellanos spoke about a fundraiser he ran over the weekend, where friends only wanted to talk about the shootings.
“And for me, I was broken, because I’m a true Lynner and in my mind, these are isolated incidents. And this is something that bothered me, because in the end, there are so many good people in this city that try to reach out every day to stop this stuff and somebody had to ruin it.”
Desmarais said it’s been several years since there was a similar spree of violence. He said there’s been no arrests definitely related to the shootings.
“I understand people are going to be concerned,” he said. “We do believe that most of these incidents, that these people were specifically looking for each other. They’re not random. We’re working very hard. It’s very concerning to us. We don’t like the negative attention that it draws to the city. It’s a very small percentage of people, but these are the types of incidents that do draw a lot of attention. We’re upset as anyone when there’s a spate of violence like this one.”
Gayla Cawley can be reached at gcawley@itemlive.com. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley