Fight over shoes led to alleged Lynn murder

LYNN – A fight over a pair of children’s Air Jordans resulted in a city man held without bail on a murder charge and the victim’s girlfriend held on $10,000 cash for assault after a fatal stabbing Sunday.”He initially comes out of the home, attacks (the victim), and subsequently (the victim) has the stab wound,” Essex Assistant District Attorney Aimee Conway said Monday in Lynn District Court. “She is the one who initiated everything here, making initial Facebook messages, saying she’s coming over there … the evidence would suggest she played a very significant role in everything that happened here.”Isaac Hendricks, 32, of 3 Mace Place, was arrested and charged with murder.Kyesha Torres, 27, of 42 New Castle St., was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, and malicious destruction of property.The two were arraigned in Lynn District Court Monday morning where pleas of not guilty were entered on each person’s behalf, and three distinct groups of families sat separated by court and police officers.”Try and keep it cool; emotions are high, but try and keep it cool,” a court officer announced before the arraignment.Police arrived at 3 Mace Place at approximately 7:30 a.m. Sunday and found Jonathan Laporte, 26, of Dedham, covered in blood and unable to speak but conscious and breathing.Laporte was pronounced dead at 10:12 a.m. Sunday at Salem Hospital, with doctors attributing the cause of death to a stab wound to the chest, Conway told the courtroom at the arraignment.Attorneys agreed the incident began when Torres and Hendricks’ wife, Shanequa Hendricks, got into a fight on Facebook over a pair of children’s shoes. Shanequa Hendricks said outside the courtroom before the arraignment that Torres had given Hendricks’ daughter a pair of Air Jordan’s as a gift and then demanded them back. Torres told police Hendricks had “borrowed” the shoes and wouldn’t return them, according to a report by Lynn Police Officer Devon Dupuis.Each of the women said the other issued threats over Facebook. Torres’ defense attorney, Todd Siegel, said his client said Shanequa Hendricks threatened harm to Torres and her child, even threatening “to kill a baby.” Conway said Torres threatened to come over to the Hendricks’ home to “(expletive) her up” and posted that Shanequa Hendricks “better be ready and come outside.”Torres and her boyfriend Laporte then arrived at the Hendricks’ home, and witnesses reported Torres allegedly banging on the windows with a baseball bat and screaming, Conway said.”I don’t know how she did not break the window because she was banging so hard or why she just didn’t use the baseball bat to break the window,” a witness told police officer Jennifer Almonte, according to her report.Conway said Shanequa Hendricks came outside armed with a machete to confront Torres. Isaac Hendricks then allegedly rushed at Laporte, who was standing on the porch after Torres “dragged him to the home on Mace Place,” according to a report by Lynn Police Officer John Harkness.”(The witness) said the victim of the stabbing ? was trying to get Torres to leave,” Harkness reported.The men fell to the ground and then the women began fighting but disappeared into the apartment, according to witnesses.Isaac Hendricks at first denied he was carrying a knife, according to police. But Shanequa Hendricks told police and said outside the courtroom that Isaac routinely carried a clip-on knife. Conway said Isaac Hendricks later admitted to having a knife, saying he was not wearing his glasses and saw Laporte waving his arms around, prompting Isaac Hendricks to arm himself.It is unclear whether Laporte had a knife. Shanequa Hendricks said Laporte did. Police recovered a machete, a knife and a baseball bat from the scene. Witnesses did not report either Laporte or Isaac Hendricks having a knife, according to court documents. Conway acknowledged that it was unclear, and that the Commonwealth is investigating the matter in regards to self-defense.But