Burst of gunfire in Lynn leaves 3 males injured

LYNN - Anna Holguin had just put a fresh batch of laundry out to hang Saturday night on her back patio, which overlooks the basketball courts of the Warren Street Playground. It was dark, but about 20 young people were still at the fenced-in playground, and several were playing a lively game of basketball. Walking through her kitchen, Holguin heard three loud bangs, followed by a rapid succession of gunfire that seemed to be just feet away.

Holguin said yesterday that she ran to her sons' bedroom near the rear of the apartment, expecting the worse. "I got sick, I almost fainted," Holguin, 40, said. "I thought I would see them dead on their beds."

Two bullets pierced the family's apartment at the Rockmere Gardens Housing Development, one ricocheting through the bedroom, which was unoccupied. Euris, 14, and his brother, Estheluin, 17, were in the living room, at a computer. Holguin looked out the window of her son's bedroom toward the basketball courts and saw the crowd scatter and run for cover, each person crouched low to the ground. She saw a man holding his side in pain, staggering.

Three males were hit by the spray of bullets at approximately 8:36 p.m. Their injuries were serious but not life-threatening, police said. The park, a popular neighborhood retreat frequented by teens and parents with young children, is near the intersection of Warren and Commercial streets.

"This is the first time there has been a shooting here, but the kids, they fight all the time," Holguin said, tracing the path that a bullet took through her sons' bedroom. "I think it is getting much worse around here."

Her daughter, 18, also lives in the apartment, and the daughter's 10-month-old girl. Both were in the front of the apartment.

Police have not made any arrests and have not disclosed any motive. But one man, speaking on condition of anonymity because he fears retaliation, said he has been seeing more arguments and fights in the area.

"You can hear the gunshots some nights. It's gotten to the point where they're not scared anymore, they're coming out and don't care who is in the way. There were children in that park, innocent kids who were just playing."

The Jack Robinson Child Care Center at the playground was closed when the shooting occurred.

Outside the development, Holguin surveyed holes in the vinyl siding made by at least five bullets.

"I can't believe this happened so close," she said.