Shooting victim dead

LYNN – A judge ordered an 18-year-old city man held without bail on trespassing and firearms charges after police said the man was caught fleeing the scene of a fatal shooting on Curwin Circle Sunday.Jacquan M. McKenzie, 18, of 14 Lakeview Ave. C6, was arrested and charged with trespassing; carrying a firearm without a license; and carrying a loaded firearm; at 2:24 p.m. Sunday.He was arraigned on the charges Monday in Lynn District Court where a plea of not guilty was entered on his behalf.McKenzie’s defense attorney noted that police have not charged the man with murder, and prosecutors say that the investigation into the incident is continuing.Hery Aquino, 29, of Lynn, died Sunday night at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston from injuries from the shooting, according to Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett’s office.Police responded to reports of a shooting at the Curwin Circle housing project at approximately 1:30 p.m. Sunday and found a black male with at least one or two gunshot wounds to the head, Lynn Police Lt. Thomas Reddy wrote in a statement of facts. That document says reports will follow at a later date.Officers were told a possible suspect – described as a black male wearing a blue sweatshirt and jeans and carrying a gun – had fled the scene, according to police.Police said a Holyoke Street resident then reported a man was running through the resident’s yard and said the man was trying to remove a blue sweatshirt.Police reported seeing the suspect climb a fence between backyards and the man ignored a command to stop. Police said they caught the man, identified as McKenzie, at a privately owned property posted with several no trespassing signs. Officers later recovered a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol, containing at least four rounds, inside a trash barrel within six feet of where McKenzie had climbed the fence, according to police. Police said they also recovered the blue sweatshirt on the other side of that same yard and in the direction in which McKenzie fled.Essex Assistant District Attorney Katelyn Giliberti requested that McKenzie be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.But public defender Rebecca Whitehill questioned probable cause for holding McKenzie.Whitehill noted that nobody reported definitively seeing the gun in McKenzie’s possession or control; the gun was not found on McKenzie, the defendant was not seen putting the gun in the trash barrel; and that police did not report McKenzie’s fingerprints on the weapon.She said the initial suspect description also didn’t match the suspect, referencing a police report that did not appear in the case file in court.Finally, Whitehill noted police had not charged McKenzie with assault or murder.”It is regrettable that someone died,” Whitehill said. “But there is no indication that this individual did that.”Judge Patricia Dowling found probable cause to hold McKenzie without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. She also accepted a defense motion for copies of all telephone and radio recordings to or from the Lynn Police on Jan. 12 at approximately 1:30 p.m. and in regards to the incident.McKenzie is scheduled to return for the hearing on Jan. 21.Members of McKenzie’s family declined to comment on the charges outside the courtroom.Essex District Attorney spokeswoman Carrie Kimball-Monahan said Monday that the investigation remains ongoing.