SALEM – The prosecution called their first six witnesses to the stand at Salem District Court on the second day of the trial of Lynn man Marcus Carlisle, 25, and Everett man Tyrell Berberena, 27, Wednesday.
Carlisle and Berberena are on trial for the murder of Lynner Noe Hernandez in a drive-by shooting that took place at 134 Fayette St. on July 4, 2020.
The trial began around 9:45 a.m. Lynn Fire Capt. and paramedic Michael Noon was the first to testify.
Noon’s fire unit was dispatched from the fire station on 101 Fayette St. to 134 Fayette St. on the day of the shooting.
Upon arrival, Noon said he found a large group of people outside, with two individuals lying on the ground. He originally noticed the first victim laying on a sidewalk in front of 134 Fayette St. before his attention was directed to the second individual, who was laying in the driveway next to the building.
Prosecutor Susan Dolhun asked Noon what condition the individual was in, and he responded that he was unresponsive.
“On initial assessment, he was muscleless, not breathing, unconscious, unresponsive,” Noon said.
Noon also stated that he noticed a small bullet hole in the victim’s left shoulder. He requested additional Advanced Life Support level apparatus, the highest level of prehospital Emergency Medical Service care, and conducted CPR while waiting for it to arrive.
Tam Dinh, a patrol officer for the Lynn Police Department, was next to testify. Dinh was on patrol the night of July 4 with former Lynn Police Officer and current Nahant Police Chief Tim Furlong, and their police cruiser was the first to respond to the shooting.
During his cross-examination, Carlisle’s attorney James Krasnoo asked Dinh to estimate the amount of time it would take to drive from 134 Fayette St. to Union Place, which is where the white truck allegedly used in the shootings was abandoned afterwards.
“Depending on traffic, it probably would take within a minute,” Dinh responded.
According to Dolhun’s opening statement Tuesday, Elijah Fontes-Wilson allegedly drove Carlisle, Berberena, and Josue Cespedes to the scene of the crime. He then allegedly drove the truck to a separate cookout at 24-26 Union Court before abandoning it at Union Place.
Krasnoo also asked him approximately how long it would take to get from 134 Fayette St. to Union St. Dinh replied that it would maybe take 10 seconds.
The third person to testify was Asidro Castillo, who hosted the cookout at 134 Fayette St., where he lived at the time of the shooting. Castillo testified through an interpreter that at the time, he was working at Kettle Cuisine Inc., a soup shop located at 330 Lynnway. He stated that Hernandez worked with him at the shop, and that they had met through a mutual friend before Castillo began working there.
Dolhun asked Castillo what his relationship was like with Hernandez, who Castillo had known for eight years.
“We were hanging out together all the time,” he replied through the interpreter.
Dolhun also asked Castillo if he knew whether Hernandez was involved in any gangs or if he had any recollection of Hernandez carrying any weapons. Castillo responded no to both questions.
Dolhun further asked Castillo whether he or any of his family members had any affiliations with gangs, to which Castillo answered no.
Castillo said that the cookout he hosted had been for his coworkers, including Hernandez.
He testified that the cookout had been going well, with no incidents up until the shooting began at 10 p.m. Castillo said that he and two friends were at his car, which was parked in the driveway, taking turns playing songs when a vehicle approached.
“A white vehicle with two doors went by and started shooting at everyone who was there,” Castillo said through an interpreter.
Castillo later clarified that the vehicle had four doors in total.
He continued to say that one of the individuals, a man who was shot in the upper left arm, began holding onto another person near the car before collapsing onto the ground.
Castillo stated that the man attempted to respond twice after he and a friend tried to communicate with him, but was unable to speak.
The court took a lunch recess around 12:45 p.m. and resumed with eyewitness Carlos Suriel’s testimony at 2 p.m.
After Justice Salim Tabit warned the crowd that he would remove any audience members who made excessive noise during the trial, Carlos Suriel was called to the stand. Suriel attended the party and drove three victims to Salem Hospital.
Dolhun asked Suriel to identify himself as the individual standing at the North Shore Medical Center’s ambulance bay on security camera footage played for the courtroom.
The video showed Suriel step out of the front passenger car door and help carry a wounded victim out of the rear passenger door and place him on a stretcher. Suriel also identified a man in a wheelchair rolling into the hospital as Erisson Carrera-Moya, another shooting victim.
Dolhun concluded her line of questioning by asking Suriel how long he stayed at the hospital. Suriel said that he stayed for two or three hours.
“I was waiting to make sure the people wounded were out of danger at that time,” Suriel said.
When Krasnoo cross-examined him, he asked if Suriel saw the vehicle as it drove by and began shooting. Suriel replied “no.” He said that he had only seen the car at the end of the block after it had already passed. Krasnoo then asked Suriel if he knew the vehicle’s color, to which Suriel responded that he was told it was white, but could not tell because he was focused on the wounded victims.
Suriel confirmed that while waiting in the hospital, he told a Lynn Police officer that he did not see the suspects or their car. He also testified that he told the officer that the vehicle took off from the direction of Chestnut Street and fled in the direction of Essex Street.
“You told the police officer that the suspect motor vehicle came from the direction of Chestnut Street and fled in the direction of Essex Street. Is that correct?” Krasnoo asked.
“Correct,” Suriel responded.
Krasnoo concluded his cross-examination by questioning Suriel on his nickname for one of the victims he transported to the hospital, “El Moreno.”
“It’s because of his color,” Suriel said, before confirming that in his culture, the term is used respectfully.
The next witness called to the stand was Erisson Carrera-Moya, who was standing on the sidewalk outside 134 Fayette St. the night of the cookout and was shot in his right thigh.
“I felt something on my leg, I felt something on my body, and I thought ‘something is going on,” ’ Carrera-Moya said. “I was so scared and shocked that I couldn’t see anything.”
Carrera-Moya said that he was next to Castillo and another victim, Rolando Aguerro, when the shots rang out. He said that at first, he thought he heard fireworks, but when he tried to run away, and had trouble standing on two feet. He said that has undergone two different leg surgeries since the shooting.
Carrera-Moya also answered “no” when asked if he was ever affiliated with a gang, or if he saw anyone at the party with weapons.
When Berberena’s attorney Brian Kelley briefly cross-examined Carrera-Moya, he asked whether he saw anyone inside the suspects’ vehicle. Carrera-Moya replied that he couldn’t see any of the suspects.
The trial adjourned after the sixth eyewitness, Rolando Aguerro, was called to the stand.
Aguerro said that he had stepped outside the house from the second floor bathroom when a white truck passed by. He said that he initially thought the truck was shooting off fireworks, and only realized they were gunshots after he was shot in the right side of his right knee cap.
“It was the fourth of July so I thought it was fireworks coming out of the truck. And then after I felt the impact, that’s when I knew that they were real shots,” Aguerro said.
The gunshot wound, Aguerro said, sent him to the hospital for four days for a broken bone. He said that the injury has prevented him from working his housing insulation installation job.
Aguerro, too, said that he has never been affiliated with any gangs, and did not see anyone attending the party carrying weapons. While he said that he did not see or recognize the suspects in the vehicle, he saw muzzle flash “fire,” from inside the truck’s rolled-down windows.
The court adjourned at around 4 p.m. Wednesday. The trial will resume Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom J of Salem Superior Court.
