SALEM – A Lynn gang member who admitted his involvement in a 2008 double shooting on Warren Street received 8-to-10-years in state prison, followed by three years of probation and was ordered to have no more affiliation with gangs.Vannark Chourb, 20, who last lived at 8 Minot St., pleaded guilty Tuesday in Salem Superior Court in a deal worked out by prosecutors and his attorney.Chourb pleaded guilty to two counts of armed assault with intent to murder, two counts of assault and battery causing serious bodily injury as well as a single count of intimidation of a witness.Judge Timothy Q. Feeley agreed to adopt the joint sentence proposed.In asking the judge to agree to the proposal, Assistant District Attorney Michael Patten said it was based on Chourb’s criminal record as well as the nature and circumstances of the case.The basis of the indictments involves two gangs, the Little Crip Gang or LCD, as it is called, and the Bloods gang, Patten said.Chourb, a member of the Little Crip Gang, confessed to the daylight shooting at 103 Warren St., a Bloods gang house on Sept. 22, 2008.Two people were struck shortly after 4:30 p.m. as they stood in front of the house – a 15-year-old girl and Saroun Sok, 22.Through a police investigation, authorities learned that Justin Williams and his 18-year-old girlfriend had driven Chourb to the area that day.After Chourb got out of Williams’ girlfriend’s car, the girlfriend told police she heard the gunshots. Chourb jumped back into her car and she drove a ways before ordering him out of her car.Authorities believed the motive for the shooting stems from a previous incident in which Sok’s brother, Saran Sok, 22, was a key witness against Chourb’s older brother Butchhay, 21, in connection with another incident on Warren Street in May 2007.Defense lawyer John V. Apruzzese emphasized to Feeley that the two victims in the shooting have fully recovered.He said that Chourb has “renounced his gang affiliation” and is taking computer classes to better himself for the future as he urged the judge to adopt the recommended disposition of the case.While on probation, Chourb agreed he will no longer have any gang affiliation, have no contact with the named victims in the case and stay away from the Warren Street area.Williams, 21, of 177 Williams Ave., Lynn, pleaded to his role in the case earlier this year for harboring Chourb and is now serving three years behind bars.The judge credited Chourb the 776 days he has spent in jail awaiting trial on the case.Patten strongly commended Lynn Gang Unit police officers Oren M. Wright and Stephen Woodrow, explaining that “they pulled the case together, which was no easy task.”As part of the plea concession, Patten dismissed a set of other charges involving the carrying of a firearm in Lynn while Chourb and other Lynn Crip gang members shot at a house on Pinkham Street in April 2008.
