Fatal shooting terrifies Lynn neighborhood

LYNN – A shooting on Quincy Terrace left one man dead Wednesday and a bullet lodged into a group home for the mentally disabled, frightening employees who missed being shot by mere inches.Essex County District Attorney spokesman Steve O’Connell confirmed a fatality late Wednesday night but did not identify the victim.The death marks Lynn’s fifth official homicide of 2008. There were five murders in all of 2007.A second shooting occurred on Fayette Street at about 10:30 p.m. which resulted in one man being shot in the head, but he was expected to survive.The fatal shooting occurred shortly after 7:30 p.m. and casings could be seen all along Quincy Terrace, from Washington Street to Rogers Avenue, where the victim was found.Sharon Flint, an employee of the Bridgewell group home at 165 Washington St., was standing on the front porch with a resident when she said she heard screaming between a man and a woman in a crowd on Quincy Terrace. She said she knew something bad was about to happen.”He (the shooter) was yelling at her and she was yelling back,” Flint said. “When his voice raised, I knew that was it and I ducked.”A stray bullet pierced the window above where Flint was ducking. Patience Simpson, another employee, was sitting at a computer behind the window when she said she “heard the noise and ducked.””You come to work doing what you like to do, but the neighborhood you work in is unsafe,” Simpson said.Flint described the Quincy Terrace shooter as a black male, about 5-foot-10 who was in his late teens or early 20s.On Fayette Street, police received reports that five or six shots were fired. A group of about five people quickly ran away from the scene, according to initial reports.The victim was found in front of 207 Chestnut St. a few minutes later reportedly conscious and alert. It was unclear if a bullet or a pellet struck him, but police said he was transported to Mass. General Hospital.No one was arrested for the fatal shooting as of press time and it was unclear if any arrests were made in the non-fatal shooting.