Man arrested after fatal shooting outside Lowell Temple

A New Hampshire man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a shooting at a Lowell temple over the weekend that left one person dead and two others injured, authorities said.

Paul Garcia, 38, of Dover, New Hampshire, is charged with armed assault with intent to murder, assault by discharging a firearm, assault with a dangerous weapon causing great bodily injury, assault with a dangerous weapon and unlawful possession of a weapon, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s Office. He will also be arraigned on murder charges on Wednesday.

Lowell police responded to the parking lot of the Swaminarayan Temple on Middlesex Street at about 4:53 a.m. Saturday for a report of gunshots, prosecutors said. Officers arrived at the scene and found about 30 people in the parking lot, including two men with gunshot wounds. Both were taken to local hospitals, and one of the men, 43-year-old Jose Ortiz, died. The other man, a 34-year-old, was treated and released.

A 26-year-old woman also suffered minor injuries in the shooting and was treated and released at a local hospital, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that before the shooting began, two groups of people were in the parking lot drinking, partying and setting off fireworks when a physical altercation broke out between the victims and other people.

“Shortly after the altercation, Paul Garcia allegedly began firing into the crowd, killing Jose Ortiz and striking the other two victims before fleeing the scene,” prosecutors said in a statement.

Garcia was arrested on Tuesday in a house in Lawrence. Information about the 38-year-old’s lawyer was not immediately available.

Is loading…