A 35-year-old New Hampshire man was shot and killed just before midnight at a Massachusetts apartment complex on New Year's Eve.
"It's disturbing, it really is," said Lawrence resident Rosemary Wise.
The Essex County District Attorney’s office identified the victim Wednesday as Wilson Javier, of Salem.
Lawrence police say around 11:49 p.m. on Dec. 31, they responded to reports of a shooting at the Valebrook Apartments on Summer Street and found Javier suffering from a gunshot wound.
The victim was taken to Lawrence General Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Javier has family in Lawrence and may have been living there at the time of his death.
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He was a driver for Liberty Taxi. While it's not clear if Javier was driving the taxi for work at the time of the shooting, a Liberty Taxi was parked at the scene, unmoved all day Wednesday.
Sandra Shalhoub, who has lived in the area for 20 years, said, “It’s horrifying, to live here is horrifying, I wish I could have moved years ago when they started changing things.”
Details surrounding the shooting have not been released by authorities, but neighbors say there was a party with music playing at the apartment where the shots were fired.
“There’s so much happening around here," Shalhoub said. "They should have more patrols here.”
Wise, whose cousin lives in the area said, “It’s very scary, it really is, you know like I said, I grew up in Lawrence as a child and we never had this and it’s getting very scary now.”
Investigators from Lawrence Police, Massachusetts State Police, and the Essex County District Attorney's Office were on scene for more than six hours and are continuing to look into the incident.
The DA's office says no arrests have been made and that it's premature to comment on suspects or a motive.
