No bail for attempted murder suspect

LYNN – A Lynn District Court judge on Monday ordered a city man charged with attempted murder held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing after the suspect allegedly tried to strangle a woman and threatened several others with a machete, according to a police report.Lynn Police arrested Fernando Serrano, 29, of 100 Willow St. around 1 a.m. Sunday after receiving numerous calls from a Chestnut Street home reporting a man wielding a machete, according to a Lynn Police incident report.The owner of the apartment, a 29-year-old woman, told police Serrano had come to visit her at her home, but soon “became enraged” and demanded that the woman?s three female guests leave.He then began to hit her, the woman told police, eventually putting his hands on her throat and cutting off her air supply, the report said.?She did pass out and collapse on the floor,” Assistant District Attorney Mark Byron said during Serrano?s bail hearing. “(Serrano) then went to a bedroom, armed himself with a machete and began chasing some of the witnesses.”Officers arrested Serrano, who is also facing charges in an unrelated case, on charges of attempted murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (machete), domestic assault and battery, witness intimidation and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon.District Court Judge Albert Conlon ordered the suspect held without bail at Middleton Jail pending a dangerousness hearing on July 3, according to court records.One witness told officers she went to help her collapsed friend, but that Serrano chased her up a flight of stairs with the machete, and she “thought Serrano was going to kill her,” according to the report.Another witness said Serrano entered the apartment “drunk” and “just flipped out,” according to the report. She recalled Serrano standing in front of the doorway and preventing her from entering by “swinging the machete.”When the collapsed woman woke up and tried to call police, the report said, Serrano re-entered the apartment, grabbed the phone and then put the machete against her throat while making statements that he was going to kill her.Lynn defense attorney Kenneth Shutzer noted in court Monday there were no reports of serious injuries after the incident, and the alleged choking victim declined medical attention. He said the woman told him “everyone was drunk” at the home.Three children were also in the residence at the time of incident and were “laying down but awake,” Byron said.Police filed a report with the Department of Children and Families, according to the report.Police said Serrano was not cooperative during booking and had to be “placed in a restraint chair” to control his behavior, and it took several hours to complete the process.Taylor Provost can be reached at [email protected].