LYNN — Two men were arrested in connection with Saturday night’s fatal shooting at Warren Street Playground that left one man dead and injured three others and prosecutors say a third suspect is still at-large.
Rogelleo Morrison, 43, of Lynn, was charged with murder and armed assault to murder. Luis Falcon, 25, of Lynn, was charged with accessory after the fact of murder, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
The two men were arraigned in Lynn District Court on Monday and were both held without bail. Not guilty pleas were entered on their behalf.
The victim was identified as Brandon Jesurum, 34, who died after he was shot in the head. He had been shot multiple times and was found lying on the basketball court of the Warren Street Playground, prosecutors said.
Two women, 18 and 20 years old, identified in court as Hilary Hernandez, a student at Lynn Vocational Technical Institute, and Makayla Anaya, a Lynn Tech graduate, were shot and suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. A 49-year-old man later showed up at Salem Hospital — he and his dog had both been shot. The man survived, but the dog had to be put down, authorities said.
Police responded to the playground shooting shortly before 7:30 p.m. Shots rang out where more than a hundred people were gathered for an East/West Lynn youth basketball game. Around the corner, a block party was in full swing.
Ward 6 Councilor Fred Hogan said he was walking up to the park when he heard 15 to 20 shots fired. He said chaos ensued as 150 kids dispersed and he and others worked to get everyone to safety. He found Jesurum lying on the court and when he took his pulse, found that he wasn’t alive. In addition to the victims, multiple cars were struck with gunfire that night, he said on Sunday.
Assistant District Attorney Maria Markos told the court there were two active shooters that night. She said the case quickly became centered around what witnesses described as a black Jetta. Still photographs and video showed two men, one wearing a white mask and another unmasked man getting out of the car and walking toward and then opening fire on the playground, before getting back into the car, driven by another man, and taking off, she said.
Markos said Morrison was identified, including by an eyewitness, as the unmasked shooter. In addition, she said his driver’s license and work identification were found in the suspect vehicle. The other masked shooter, whom she said prosecutors were led to through forensic evidence, is still at large, she said.
A gun and magazine were found in the center of the basketball courts and discharged shell casings were found in the area, Markos said.
A motive was not shared by prosecutors in court and court records, including the police report, were ordered sealed.
“I greatly appreciate the hard work of the Lynn Police detectives, the State Police detectives assigned to my office and other Mass. State Police assets who worked around the clock to find those responsible for this brazen attack,” Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a statement.
But Morrison’s defense attorney, Mark Miliotis, said police and prosecutors have the wrong man. He said there’s a lack of, if any, evidence, linking his client to the shooting. He said he was comfortable, other than the fact that his client was locked up, because he hasn’t seen anything tying Morrison to being in the car.
“There’s allegedly some surveillance, but no one’s identified my client and no one apparently has testified or given evidence to the government of witnessing the actual shooting,” Miliotis said. “We really haven’t gotten anything that says anything except what the government said.
“So, I think there’s one individual that’s been identified. It’s not my client and there’s no one that said they saw the shots. They’ve heard shots and then they saw some people leaving and my client is not seen in the park participating in any criminal activity.”
Miliotis described his client as a long-time General Electric worker, where he’s employed as a machinist, who doesn’t have a criminal background. He said Morrison is a Lynn English High School graduate who works 80 hours a week between two jobs to provide for his four children.
“I haven’t seen any evidence — the judge didn’t see very much evidence,” Miliotis said. “I have to make justice prevail and make sure the government has some proof … Maybe the government will find who did this, but it’s not going to be my guy.”
The shooting has left Jesurum’s fiancée, Faye Bowdre, devastated. The couple, who lived in Boston and shared an 8-month-old son, were childhood sweethearts. They started dating in middle school, went their separate ways and reconnected years later. Jesurum had just moved back to the area last year and was excited to be a new father, she said.
“I just want to say that Brandon Jesurum was a great father,” Bowdre said. “What a great loss this is to my family. He was a hard-working 34-year-old iron worker out of Boston Local 7 and he was just striving for his family and it’s a tragic thing that has happened to him.”
Bowdre, 35, described her fiancé as someone with a big heart who had turned his life around. He would have given someone the shirt off his back and had a zest for life. He was a second-year apprentice at the Iron Workers Local 7 Union in Boston.
Jesurum had a rough start, she said, and was recently taken off probation. A Superior Court judge had told him recently that he was impressed with him, in terms of the way he excelled in positivity and became a construction worker.
She said Jesurum was at the basketball court for an anti-violence rally that had taken place that day and she later received a phone call that he had been shot in the head and didn’t make it.
“(It was) heartbreaking,” Bowdre said. “It’s so sad and unfortunate that this has happened and I’m here to have a voice for him because this was an unjust act. I just want the world to know that it’s a great loss that he’s gone.”
In light of the shooting, Lynn Public Schools is offering grief counseling to students who need it. The drop-in center was available at Connery Elementary School on Monday and will be available on Tuesday from 3 to 6 p.m. The support is available to Lynn students of all ages.
“When I heard about the tragic events I felt it would be appropriate for LPS to have some sort of support system for our students,” said School Committee member Michael Satterwhite. “The event happened at a park close to our schools, with youth present. I’m happy that when I reached out to (Superintendent) Dr. (Patrick) Tutwiler he was responsive, got his team involved and got this support resource up and running quickly. While violence is never the answer, supporting our students and our communities is always the answer.”
The shooting remains under investigation. Morrison returns to court on Sept. 16 for a probable cause hearing and Falcon is scheduled to appear in court for a dangerousness hearing on Sept. 4.
