LYNN — Friends describe the man killed in a triple shooting on Lawton Avenue that left two others seriously injured early Saturday morning as a good person who could always brighten their days.
Friends of Romel Danis, 25, of Lynn, gathered at the crime scene on Sunday afternoon where a memorial of candles and pictures in remembrance of Danis is set up beneath a telephone pole, with words about the victim written on it.
A vigil by family members and friends of Danis was on Saturday afternoon at the same location.
“He was a really positive person,” said Brittney Bernabel, the sister of Danis’ girlfriend, Stefanie Hernandez. “If you did a little accomplishment, he made you feel like it was the best thing you could have done.”
Bernabel, 18, said her sister dated Danis for about three years, adding that he was like a brother to her.
“Everywhere he went, he was always positive,” Bernabel said. “If you were in a bad mood, he would make you laugh. He was such a good person.”
Around 2 a.m. on Saturday, Lynn police were responding to a loud music complaint at a party when they heard gunshots around the corner, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
Police found Danis dead and two other men with gunshot wounds in the area of 65 Lawton Ave. It’s not clear if the victims were at the party, authorities said.
The two men, only identified by authorities as 22- and 23-year-old Lynn residents, were taken to Massachusetts General Hospital with serious injuries — one of the men had life-threatening injuries, but was reported to be in stable condition on Sunday. The other man has been released from the hospital, the DA’s office said.
No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.
A spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s office declined to provide suspect information, but surveillance footage obtained by WCVB appears to show two suspects committing the shooting and then fleeing the scene. Police arrive shortly after to tend to the victims.
Police declined to release the surveillance footage to The Item.
Danis was a Lynn Vocational Technical Institute graduate and wanted to be a computer graphic designer. He was working full-time at a convenience store in Lynn, according to his friends gathered on Sunday.
Jorge Pimentel, 25, went to Lynn Tech with Danis. He said they were close friends and described Danis as “a really good kid.”
“Every time I (saw) him, he had a good smile on him,” Pimentel said. “(This was) the last thing I expected for a person like him to go through a situation like that.”
Pimentel said Danis loved playing Grand Theft Auto online, describing his friend as someone who always had a positive vibe to him.
“He definitely didn’t deserve something like this,” Pimentel said.
Bernabel said Danis was one of a kind — sometimes he’d say something and people would wonder where he got it from.
Michele Lestrad said Danis and her daughter, Hernandez, weren’t living together recently but had lived together at one point while they were dating. She also spoke of Danis’ love of video games, calling him a “big kid.”
“He was funny,” Lestrad said. “He was a good kid. He made an impression everywhere he went.”
Leny Thomas, 30, of Lynn, said his father has lived in the neighborhood where the shooting took place for more than a decade.
Thomas said he wouldn’t describe the neighborhood as unsafe, explaining that he wouldn’t want to paint that picture in any part of Lynn because there’s violence all over the city.
But he said there was some gang activity down the street several years ago near Jenny’s Convenience Store toward Western Avenue.
“Things like this need to stop,” Thomas said. “These kids need to stop shooting each other and taking each other’s lives. It’s just pointless.”
Hernandez and Danis’ mother, Pastora Silverio, could not be reached for comment.
