LAWRENCE, Mass. — Three young men were shot Monday afternoon near Lawrence High School as students were leaving school, sending families and children scrambling for safety, police said.
The shooting happened around 3 p.m. near the Lawrence Housing Authority on Exeter Street, not far from the high school. Police said the shooting did not occur on school property.
Lawrence police Chief Maurice Aguiler said a school resource officer heard gunshots outside and called the shooting in.
Officers responding to the scene found three young men suffering from gunshot wounds, Aguiler said. The victims were taken to a hospital and were reported to be in varying conditions. Their conditions had not been updated as of Monday night.
“It’s only been a week and a lot of crazy stuff is already happening,” neighbor Christian Lantigua said. “I never seen anything like this happen in broad daylight.”
Lantigua said the shooting happened during a particularly chaotic time because school had just let out.
“It was a bit chaotic because everyone was leaving from school,” Lantigua said. “There were cars trying to go around each other to get away from it because nobody wanted to catch a stray bullet.”
Lantigua said he heard the gunshots and saw the victims on the ground. He said children were nearby when the shooting happened.
“There was a kid that was crying and he went ahead inside a neighbor’s house just to get inside because they didn’t want to end up getting shot or something,” Lantigua said. “The scary thing is what if a stray bullet hit another random passerby?”
There had been no arrests as of Monday night.
Aguiler said police do not believe the shooting was random.
“This is an active investigation,” Aguiler said. “We’re canvassing the area. We’ve obtained sufficient information right now that we have a person of interest.”
The FBI and Massachusetts State Police are assisting Lawrence police with the investigation.
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