5 hurt, 1 killed in shooting at Lawrence house party on Royal Street
LAWRENCE – A violent night in Lawrence leaves five people injured and one dead after a shooting during a house party on Royal Street.
"He was on the ground, so I could see that his leg was bleeding, there was blood on his shoe. But I couldn't tell that he was shot," one neighbor said.
Investigators said it happened at around 3 a.m. at an apartment building. Neighbors said they heard several gunshots. "We are really scared because I have kids...we don't know what's going on in the streets sometimes," neighbor Luis Almanzar said.
Neighbors said they woke up to police going door to door. "They knocked on my door seeing if I heard anything," neighbor Dario Perez said.
Lawrence Police said all six people were rushed to Lawrence General Hospital. One of them, identified as 18-year-old Desiderio Arias, did not survive. Two of the other victims were taken by MedFlight to Boston hospitals.
Perez has lived here since 2008 and has seen the neighborhood change over the years.
"This used to be a really nice, quiet neighborhood for awhile. But lately people moving in from different places and different states coming in this area it's been crazy. It has to stop, it has to stop," Almanzar said. Neighbors also said they've seen a lot of suspicious activity happening at the house but nothing like this. It's gotten to a point where many residents no longer feel safe.
"There's no difference between Lawrence, Methuen and Andover and there's more people doing drugs over here than over there so there needs to be more police activity," Perez said.
The shooting remains under investigation and police said they don't believe the shooting to be random. So far, no arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to contact police.
