LYNN — An early morning shooting at the Curwin Circle Complex left one 34-year-old man dead and a neighborhood on edge.
Pedro Carrillo, who is believed to be from Lynn, was shot and killed in front of 89 Curwin Circle Sunday at 1:54 a.m., said the District Attorney of Essex County spokesman Steve O’Connell.
“The victim was deceased at the scene,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell said police received multiple emergency calls about the shooting in the early morning. There is an ongoing investigation.
Family and friends mourned the loss of Carrillo at the family’s home throughout Sunday. A memorial was placed on a small tree at the scene of the incident, where flowers, pictures, among other personal items were placed to remember the father of three.
Dozens of mourners gathering at the scene of the crime declined to comment on the tragedy.
“The family doesn’t want to talk to nobody out of respect,” said one man where the memorial was placed.
But longtime residents had mixed reactions about the violence occurring just steps from their front door.
One neighbor, who claimed to know the family of the victim very well said she heard gunshots early Sunday morning when she was watching TV at home.
“I just want the people who did it to get caught because it wasn’t right,” said one 30-year Curwin Circle resident, who refused to give her name. “People shouldn’t have to die like that.”
The resident, who raised her kids in the neighborhood, said it is a good place and it is very sad to have that loss.
But others said the 459-unit affordable housing community is a dwelling for this kind of behavior.
“This isn’t the first murder that happened here and I highly doubt it will be the last,” said another neighbor who wished to remain anonymous. “This is a very shady environment and just a bad place to live.”
The Curwin Circle resident for more than a decade did not hear the gunshots or police cruisers arriving to the scene, but paid respect to the family when realizing the chaos.
“The family is taking it very hard right now,” the person said. “These kids don’t have a father now.”
Another longtime resident, wishing to remain unnamed, said the murder could have something to do with drugs or money.
The person said the mother of the deceased, who lives at 89 Curwin Circle, was held at gunpoint over problems involving drugs and money, causing the belief the shooting wasn’t random.
Sunday’s shooting marks the third violent death occurring in 10 years at the housing complex in West Lynn, owned and managed by the Lynn Housing Authority and Neighborhood Development.
A representative from the Public Housing Agency was not available for comment on Sunday.
Carrillo’s death is another tally in the increasing number of homicides this year, bringing the eight-month total in 2017 higher than the previous two years combined.
There have been 10 killings in Lynn in 2017. In comparison, there were four homicides last year and two in 2015. Since 2001, the number of murders has been in the low single digits with the exception of 2007 and 2008, when there were six fatalities each.
The Lynn Police Department referred all questions to the DA, who was not able to provide any more information on Carrillo’s death at this time.
