EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
Merrimack Valley
Man robbed at gunpoint, assaulted
Published: June 24, 2009
LAWRENCE — In the five months Hansel Deleon Zapata has lived in Lawrence the air bag has been stolen from his car and he has been assaulted by two men with guns.
About a week ago, thieves stole the air bag from the car while it was in the rear parking lot of the row of brick apartment buildings on Inman Street, where he lives.
Then early Monday morning Deleon Zapata was returning home about 3 a.m., when he was assaulted by two masked men carrying guns, who robbed him of $200 cash and the car he was driving.
"They took me by surprise," said Deleon Zapata, 25. "I wasn't afraid at first, but then I saw the guns, I was scared."
Officer John Fornesi went to 8 Inman St., about 3 a.m. Monday, where he found Deleon Zapata bleeding from the forehead and with several lacerations to his head.
Police said Deleon Zapata told Fornesi he was parking the 2005 Honda Accord on South Broadway at Inman Street, when the two men attacked him.
Both men were carrying guns and struck him several times on the head, police said.
The men demanded all his cash and his car keys, before driving away in the Honda.
Deleon Zapata told police the car was not his, but was registered to his girlfriend who is vacationing in the Dominican Republic.
Emergency medical technicians from Patriot Ambulance treated Deleon Zapata at the scene and took him to Lawrence General Hospital for more treatment.
Deleon Zapata provided police a partial license plate number for the car he was driving, but when police ran the plate they found the Registry of Motor Vehicles had no record of a plate with the name or spelling of Deleon Zapata's girlfriend.
Deleon Zapata said he moved from Fitchburg, and lived on Chester Street before moving to Inman Street.
