Lynner charged with breaking and entering, assault to murder; no bail

LYNN – A city man was held without bail Monday after police said the defendant was burglarizing a home and then tried to kill a neighbor who interrupted.”(The witness) saw the defendant inside the apartment and they began to fight,” Essex Assistant District Attorney Andrew Boyd said in Lynn District Court Monday. “(The defendant) when asked what had happened said only, ?it’s a long story.'”Jose Molina, 38, of 394 Summer St. #1, was arrested and charged with nighttime felony breaking and entering; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; and assault to murder; at 8:30 p.m. Sunday. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday in Lynn District Court.Police reported responding at 8 p.m. Sunday to the Walgreens on Joyce Street where a man said his upstairs neighbor (who was with him in the store) had called him and reported someone was breaking into his apartment. The man said he returned to his apartment and found the neighbor and the defendant (later identified as Molina) fighting on the sidewalk, police said. The man said Molina fled and that he and his neighbor followed him to Walgreens.”Molina looked directly at me standing outside through the glass door and smiled but remained inside the store,” Lynn Police Officer Ronald Brown reported.The witness told police he was at his Rockaway Street home when he heard the crash of glass breaking and saw Molina trying to get into the downstairs apartment. The witness said he confronted Molina and they began to fight, and the witness reported he was cut.Police reported the witness had what appeared to be stab wounds on his left arm and right rib cage that were determined to be not serious. Police found a small, broken and bent kitchen knife on the sidewalk near a can of cold Modelo beer that the homeowner said was taken from his fridge, according to court documents.Boyd requested Molina be held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing.Defense attorney Christopher Burke said his client denied the charges and had said he in fact called 911 from Walgreens. Burke also noted that police said the witness’ wounds were superficial. But Burke requested a seven-day continuance for the hearing so the public defender’s office could prepare.Judge Mary McCabe found probable cause to hold Molina without bail pending a dangerousness hearing scheduled for Oct. 28.