Seven people were shot in Essex County, Massachusetts last Sunday morning in what is described as a pop-up “car club meetups.”
In a June 16 press conference, Methuen Police Chief Scott McNamara said officers responded to multiple 911 reports of shots fired in an area on Lindbergh Avenue just before 2:00 a.m. that day.
When officers arrived at the scene, they found seven people, including some in their late teens, who were suffering from gunshot wounds. An eighth person was also injured after running away when the gunfire erupted.
One of the victims was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition while the rest were transported by ambulances. The victims, who ranged in age from late teens to early twenties, were all from Essex County, officials said.
According to District Attorney Paul Tucker, two of the seven victims were listed as critical while the other five were in stable condition. The eighth victim who was injured while fleeing the scene was suffering from serious head injuries, Tucker told reporters.
McNamara assured the community that while these “car club meetups” did not typically escalate into violence, the Methuen Police Department’s policy has always been “to discourage this activity from occurring in the first place.”
According to the police chief, the parties, which law enforcement has been dealing with for several years, typically occur in abandoned parking lots where groups of young people gather to dance, drink, and vape.
McNamara said when police shut down the parties, the young people there get cited for trespassing.
He added that law enforcement had infiltrated the group and is aware of where these spontaneous meetups typically occur but said that last Sunday’s meetup was held in a location that hadn’t been used before.
Investigators are reviewing security footage from the area to determine what prompted the shooting but so far, no arrests have been made.
