LAWRENCE — An 18-year-old man originally charged in the shooting death of a Lawrence High School student last summer was himself fatally shot early yesterday.
Police said Jesse Mestre, of 174 Jackson St., was 75 feet from his front door when he was gunned down at the intersection of Avon and Jackson streets about 4:25 a.m.
He died four hours later in a Boston hospital. It was the third murder in the city this year.
Police Chief John Romero said investigators did not immediately have a motive for the Mestre killing.
But investigators are looking at a possible link with the fatal shooting of Jose Ramos Jr., 18, on a basketball court at Scarito Park on Brook Street last Aug. 15.
Ramos was a junior at Lawrence High School, the night supervisor of the Fresh City restaurant in North Andover, and the father of a 15-month-old girl.
Mestre was one of four people indicted on charges in Ramos' death, but the charges against him were later dropped, while charges against the other three are moving forward.
"This kid must have known someone was after him," Romero said of Mestre. "This was not random. He was the intended target."
Police also are trying to find out if there is a connection with the March 15 gunshot wounding of Nelson Rivera Jr., 18, on Water Street.
Rivera was shot in his left hand and wrist, and police said his assailant had warned him, "Don't snitch on Jesse.'"
Rivera also was at the scene of Ramos' death, but was only charged with two counts of being an accessory after the fact and two counts of carrying a firearm without a firearms identification card. He is awaiting trial on those charges and is due back in court on July 1, a spokesman for the district attorney's office said.
Mestre was found facedown in the road by a motorcyclist who was passing by on his way to work early yesterday morning and called 911.
Although the 911 caller originally reported the victim was a woman, officers arriving at the scene discovered the victim was a man when they rolled him onto his back.
Officer Timothy Yerian found a pulse and when they rolled Mestre over they realized he was not breathing and began CPR.
Officer Tad Czarnecki Jr. started CPR, and paramedics arrived a short time later to take over.
Mestre was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and then airlifted to a Boston hospital where he died.
Police said he had been hit numerous times on either side of his abdomen. Several spent shell casings were recovered at the scene.
The shooter is reported to have fled in a small, red Honda with Massachusetts plates, police said.
State police crime scene investigators and Lawrence detectives blocked off Jackson Street from Avon to Park Street yesterday morning.
The shooting occurred in a neighborhood of multifamily homes on the city's north side, about one mile from Campagnone Common.
A woman standing near the scene told a reporter she was visiting her son at 225 Jackson St., on the corner of Avon Street, about 2 a.m. when they heard arguing that sounded like it was coming from the Avon Street side of the house.
Lucy Rivera said they heard someone yell in Spanish several times, "I am going to kill you."
After that things went quiet until about 4:30 a.m., she said.
"We heard bang, bang, bang, three shots. I looked out the window and I saw the kid there. A guy came up on a motorcycle. He stopped and called police," Rivera said.
"It looked like he was trying to hide in his house, but he didn't make it," she said.
Members of Mestre's family declined to comment yesterday morning.
