Trial date set for Lynn man charged in fatal club shooting

SALEM – A Lynn man charged with the fatal shooting of Vincent K. Gaskins outside Soriano?s Nightclub on Market Street in 2009 is scheduled to go on trial at the beginning of 2012.Darkens Bonnett, of 16 Osborne St., Lynn, is charged with murder in the first degree and carrying a firearm without a license in connection with the shooting death of Gaskins on Nov. 22, 2009.In Salem Superior Court Monday, Assistant District Attorney James P. Gubitose and defense lawyer Michael T. Phelan asked Judge Timothy Q. Feeley to schedule the trial for Jan. 18, 2012.It is not known yet where the case will be tried.Gaskins, 30, who lived at 159A Essex St. in Lynn, was shot once in the head at about 1:20 a.m. with a .22 caliber handgun in the parking lot outside Soriano?s Nightclub at 41 Market St.When police arrived at the scene, they found Gaskins unresponsive.Before police and medical teams arrived, Gaskins? girlfriend, Ashley Auger, 24, desperately tried to perform CPR on Gaskins.Gaskins was taken by ambulance to Salem Hospital and then air-lifted to Boston Medical Center.Auger told police that she and Gaskins were walking through the nightclub parking lot when a man came up and began speaking to Gaskins, but she kept walking toward her car. She then heard gunshots and saw a blue Audi speed from the scene.Auger told authorities that Gaskins and the man he was talking to had an ongoing misunderstanding.The murder weapon, a firearm, was found near the scene of the crime, according to reports.