SAUGUS — A dramatic Friday afternoon that began when a man was shot in front of the Cliftondale Mobil station ended with a report of the shooting suspect’s death about an hour later at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett.
The victim, identified only as a 63-year-old station mechanic, was shot shortly after 12:30 p.m., triggering a search for a cream-colored Mini Cooper with a black roof, reportedly driven by the shooter.
Emergency medical personnel transported the victim, who suffered gunshot wounds to the head and chest, to Massachusetts General Hospital. He was later pronounced dead.
“We heard a boom, boom,” a witness at the scene said. “Then we looked out and (my friend) said ‘oh my God, did he get shot?’” The witness said she saw the male victim lying on the ground near multiple shotgun shell casings as the car, which she described as a cream-colored Mini Cooper, pulled out of the Mobil station and traveled in the direction of Revere.
Police scanner transmissions shortly after 2 p.m. reported the suspect was found dead in Everett about an hour after police confirmed his victim had died. A post on the Saugus Police website at 2:20 p.m. stated the suspect, a 63-year-old adult male, was found dead in his car at Woodlawn Cemetery.
The public’s safety is not at risk, the post stated.
A separate statement released later by the Essex District Attorney’s Office said the suspect’s death was an apparent suicide and that the two parties were known to one another.
Identities are being withheld pending family notification.
The matter remains under investigation by Saugus Police, Essex State Police Detectives, and the Essex District Attorney’s Office.
Elyse Carmosino can be reached at [email protected].
