Police arrested a 39-year-old Revere man in connection with a shooting at Woodspring Suites on Route 1 in Saugus.
Dantonio Thorton, of 785 Winthrop Ave. in Revere, is charged with discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, third offense of possession of a firearm without a license, malicious destruction of property over $1,200, and defacing a firearm serial number.
On Tuesday, Jan. 1 at about 2 p.m., Saugus Police received a 911 call from an employee at the hotel, located at 832 Broadway, who reported hearing gunshots inside one of the rooms.
When they arrived on the scene, police spoke to the employee and located a bullet hole through the door to one of the rooms where the gunshots were heard, according to a statement from Police Chief Ronald Giorgetti.
Police identified Thorton as the man staying in the room, said Giorgetti. Lynn District Court granted a warrant for Thorton’s arrest.
The following day, at 8:50 p.m., an Ipswich Police detective and Somerville Police detective, working with Saugus Police on the case, identified Thorton entering the Town Line Inn Motel in Malden.
Saugus Police, with assistance from the Malden Police SWAT team and Medford Police, established a perimeter around the motel. Members of the Malden SWAT team entered the hotel and placed Thorton under arrest without incident, according to Giorgetti.
Police recovered a 9mm semi-automatic pistol with defaced serial numbers inside the hotel room. The incident remains under investigation by the Saugus Police Department, however, a preliminary investigation indicates that Thorton accidentally discharged his firearm inside the hotel room. He is expected to be arraigned in Lynn District Court Thursday.
