LYNN — While one mother is left searching for answers after her son was shot to death in front of her early Sunday morning, the accused killer in a stabbing homicide that occurred just 18 hours later was arraigned in Lynn District Court on Monday.
The city saw two homicides on Sunday, marking 11 in Lynn this year. There were four killings last year.
Pedro Carrillo, 34, who is believed to be from Lynn, was shot and killed in front of 89 Curwin Circle shortly before 2 a.m. His killer is still at large, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s office.
On Sunday night, a man was stabbed to death in a Union Street rooming house. Richard Davis, 66, of Lynn, was arrested and charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty and was held without bail during his arraignment in Lynn District Court on Monday. Authorities refused to identify the victim until his family members were reached.
Court documents obtained at Lynn District Court show that Davis confessed to the killing, saying he stabbed the man while he was defending himself from the victim. The fatal stabbing occurred at 8:15 p.m. in a rooming house at 195 Union St.
Police were led by the building’s manager to Apt. 15, where officers could see blood spattered at the entrance of the open door. Inside the apartment, police saw a man lying face up on the floor, with his head facing toward the entrance. He was unconscious, without a pulse and was bleeding from his chest from an apparent stab wound. Blood was spattered throughout the apartment, court documents show.
The man was taken to Salem Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Police were told by a woman that she had received a phone call from Davis, her father, who told her that he had stabbed the man and thought that he had killed him, court documents show.
Police found Davis in Apt. 16, and the suspect began to talk about the incident. When police read him his Miranda Rights, and asked him if he understood them, Davis reportedly said: “Yes, I know my rights. This isn’t my first rodeo,” court documents show.
Davis told police that the man next door was banging on his apartment door and threatening him. At that point, Davis said he picked a large kitchen knife and opened his apartment door. Davis said that once the door opened, the victim began yelling at him and threw a punch at him that grazed his face. Davis told police that when he went out into the hallway, the man came at him again, and that’s when he defended himself and stabbed him, court documents show.
During Davis’ arraignment, information related to the victim was impounded at the request of Assistant District Attorney Katelyn Giliberti, until the man’s next of kin could be notified.
Rebecca Whitehill, defense attorney for Davis, said she had no comment. Davis is scheduled to return to court on Sept. 7 for a probable cause hearing.
A day after the early Sunday morning shooting, through a translator and friend — Carmen Gomez — Isabel Carrillo, 52, spoke about how she witnessed her son, Pedro, get killed in front of her home at 89 Curwin Circle.
Carrillo said her 20-year-old grandson, Pedro’s son, lived with her in the Curwin Circle Complex. Pedro was visiting with his son and mother that night, which was typical — every day, he would come over to eat and see his family.
Carrillo said she was sitting outside the dwelling in front of Pedro, facing him, when a man came toward them with his head down. In that moment, Carrillo said the man turned around and shot Pedro in the head, and took off running. Carrillo, through Gomez, said she went over son’s body and ran after the shooter, who was making his way around the houses.
While she was running after the man, Carrillo said a car was coming, causing her to get separated from him. He ran on the other side of the car and she was forced to stop for it, causing her to fall and scrape her knees.
Carrillo said she couldn’t see the man’s face, because he was wearing a hoodie, but she would recognize him if they ever came face to face by his body, his features and his way of running. If she ever saw him, Carrillo said she would tell him that he killed her son and that he is a coward. If he had any problem to hash out, he should have faced her son, instead of being a coward.
Carrillo said Pedro was a good son and a good father. He had three children — his son, and two girls, ages 8 and 1½. His two girls lived with their separate mothers. She said he had a lot of friends, was born in Lynn and went to Lynn schools. He had been working at a temp agency for a company that makes hot dogs in Danvers.
Carrillo and Gomez said they took issue with an article on Sunday following the shooting, where a neighbor told The Item that the mother of the deceased (Carrillo) was once held at gunpoint over problems involving drugs and money. Carrillo vehemently denied the neighbor’s claim, saying she thought the man walking up to her and Pedro was a friend of her son’s before he opened fire.
“She wants to say exactly there was no way they put a gun to her head,” Gomez translated for Carrillo. “She was never at gunpoint and it didn’t have anything to do with drugs or money.”
But Gomez said Carrillo doesn’t know what happened with the shooting — once you’re at a certain age, you don’t really know what’s up, what’s happening.
This story was originally posted at 8:28 a.m. and has been updated several times with new information.