Lynn teen shot on Chatham St.

LYNN-A male in his late teens was shot in the hand possibly by a group of three or four young males on Ingalls Street near Chatham Street shortly before 5 p.m. Monday, according to police and witnesses.One of the bullets struck the vinyl siding of 62 Ingalls St. and State Police planned to remove the bullet from the house during its investigation Monday night, a resident of the home said.Alexis Betancourt, 33, arrived home from work to find scores of police outside his home examining the bullet that was lodged just below the living room window.”It’s not good,” Betancourt said. “We haven’t had anything like this before.”Betancourt’s 4-year-old nephew, who lives at the house, was taking a nap in the rear of the home when Betancourt’s sister-in-law, the boy’s mother, heard about three gunshots, Betancourt said.Police and paramedics began treating the shooting victim outside Linda Scuzzarella’s home at 229 Chatham St., which is around the corner from Betancourt’s house.Police haven’t said how the victim got there, but Scuzzarella said she heard screeching tires from a car and one “muffled” gunshot when she looked outside and saw the victim, who she described as a black male in his late teens, getting beaten up in the middle of the street by four or five males.”The kids were stepping on him and kicking him and got dirt all over his clothes,” Scuzzarella said. “The poor thing.”Scuzzarella, a nine-year Chatham Street resident, said she ran out of the house in her bathrobe and yelled out to the group and all of the suspects began to run toward Essex Street. In the meantime, she tried to aid the victim who sat wounded at the corner of Wells Place.”I come running out and said, ?Just stay there. Don’t move,'” she said.Police searched a black Mercedes Benz parked in front of Scuzzarella’s home immediately after the shooting. Scuzarella said that when she left her home, all of the car’s doors were open but no one appeared to be inside the vehicle. She wasn’t sure if the suspects came from the car, but after police searched it officers allowed a young man to drive it away.Police also questioned several youths in the area after the shooting, including one young man who was crying.Several officers were also on the property of 63 Ingalls St., across from Betancourt’s home, and appeared to be searching the property.As of press time, no arrests were made.Police did not release the identity of the victim.Betancourt said he was surprised by the violence, but added there has been an increase in car break-ins in his neighborhood recently.”We’ve been having someone come in here and break into cars over the last three months,” he said.