Highlands shooting marks 24 hours of violence in Lynn

LYNN – Two people are under arrest after a violent 24 hours during which there were two shootings and a stabbing in the city.Patrick Severino, 18, of 3 Chestnut St. #3 and Orlando Guzman, 19, of 501 Washington St. #401, both of Lynn, were being held Tuesday night at the Lynn police station on unspecified charges.The suspects were arrested moments after a shooting broke out at the corner of Henry and Lawton avenues at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.No one was believed to have been injured in the shooting, which prompted police to swarm the Highlands and caused traffic backups in the neighborhood.A large amount of children returning home from school stumbled upon the multiple crime scenes in the neighborhood, including Grover Street where a full school bus had to be detoured as officers searched for shell casings.Lynn police officials didn’t return phone calls for comment on the shooting.Police roped off part of the intersection of Lawton and Henry with yellow tape after five shots were fired, according to witnesses. Four casings were marked on the ground and a fifth bullet was believed to have been lodged into a house on Henry Avenue.A mid-90s Toyota Carolla was stopped in the middle of the intersection and was within the roped area.The suspects were arrested two blocks away on Grover Street after a white Acura Integra apparently involved in the shooting tried to get away. The occupants jumped out of the moving vehicle on Grover, causing the car to drive off the road and into a grassy vacant lot, according to Hamilton Avenue resident Jim Bell.Bell was in his driveway with his friend Mike Burgess when they heard the shots and saw the Acura fly by.”We heard ‘pop, pop, pop,'” Burgess said. “Then they bailed out and the car rolled right into the bushes.”The men said they heard a handgun had been recovered from the vehicle.”Kids these days are all out of their minds,” Burgess said.Bell, who has a wife and four young children, said it’s unfortunate that his neighborhood has seen so much violence this summer. The location is only a block away from where Greenland Etienne was murdered July 30 and another couple of blocks from where 5-year-old Giovanni Gonzalez went missing, which is the same block 24-year-old Jonathan Harris was gunned down Aug. 28.”This is where all the actions happens. I just live in the middle of it,” Bell said.A woman who’s lived on Henry Avenue for 45 years but declined to give her name agreed that the level of violence is bad, but said it was worse about eight years ago.”Eight to 10 years ago it was worse than today, but 45 years ago is was much better,” she said. “It used to be a great neighborhood.”The shooting came less than two hours after a stabbing was reported near High Rock Tower. A male was apparently stabbed in the arm before a friend drove him to a hospital, where police were called.”I can only confirm we had an officer respond to Salem Hospital where an individual was being treated for a knife wound,” police spokesman Lt. William Sharpe said shortly after the stabbing was reported.Initial police reports said the suspect was a black male about 5-foot-9, 170 pounds in his mid-20s who was last seen on foot on Rockaway Street.At about 8:30 p.m. Monday a man in his early 20s was shot outside 2 Brimblecom St. and suffered non life-threatening injuries. Police have not identified the victim.However, Sharpe confirmed the suspect is a black male in his late teens who was allegedly seen firing at the victim from a bicycle.