Gang member charged in Lawrence shooting 

LAWRENCE — A Trinitarios gang member is accused of taking a loaded gun used in a shooting on Howard Street and hiding the weapon in a laundry basket in his room, according to a police report. 

A teen-aged boy was shot in the face and bled profusely after the June 6 shooting in the Prospect Hill neighborhood. The victim, who was airlifted to a Boston hospital, did survive, police said. 

An adult, Darling Magarin, 20, and two juveniles already have been charged in connection with the shooting. 

Then, late Thursday night, Jorge Diplan, 20, of 367 Howard St., was arrested and charged with accessory after the fact, illegal possession and carrying a firearm without a license and illegal possession of a firearm without an FID card.

He was held without bail after his Lawrence District Court arraignment Friday. 

Diplan is accused of taking the loaded, Glock 9 mm handgun used in the shooting from one of the juveniles involved. Detectives found the gun wrapped in a black T-shirt in a laundry basket in Diplan's room, according to a report. 

Gunfire erupted at 5:30 p.m. on June 6 in the 300 block of Howard Street, a neighborhood that contains an elementary school, the Engine 6 firehouse and many single- and multifamily homes.

Officers who arrived on the scene found the wounded teen behind a building on the ground with “heavy bleeding from his mouth,” according to a police report.

A female was holding the teen in her arms trying to help him and bloody towels and clothing were found nearby, according to police reports.

Right after the shooting, Diplan was seen going to a home at 333 Howard St., police said. 

Thursday evening, detectives involved in the case went to Diplan's home to question him about the shooting. He told the detectives he went to 333 Howard St. that night to buy marijuana, according to a report. 

But detectives showed Diplan "a video of himself walking away from the building conspicuously holding his waist band," according to the report. 

Diplan's father later gave detectives permission to search his son's room. 

The Glock handgun with "six rounds of ammunition loaded in the magazine" was found in the laundry basket, according to the report. 

Detectives said they also found a series of symbols of "membership into the Trinitario gang" in Diplan's room. 

Diplan, according to the report, later told detectives that after the shooting he got a message to go to 333 Howard St. from one of the juveniles involved. He was told he would be given something, Diplan said. 

A juvenile handed him "a gun from under the stairs." Diplan said he hid the gun in the front of his pants and walked out.

"He then brought the gun to his house and hid it in a laundry basket," according to the report. 

"Diplan told us that he had no idea a 15-year-old boy had been shot or he never would have taken the gun. He admitted to being a Trinitarios gang member," wrote Detective Paul MacMillan, who investigated Thursday night with Detective Ana Villavizar and State Police Detective Joshua Ulrich. 

The other adult charged in the shooting, Darling Magarin, was held without bail and is due back in court Tuesday for a hearing to determine if he's a danger to himself or the community at large.

Diplan is scheduled to return to court Wednesday for a similar dangerousness hearing.  

Police did not release the names of the two juveniles arrested or the teen who was wounded because they are under age 18.

After the shooting, investigators quickly accessed surveillance video taken from cameras located at buildings nearby on Howard Street. At least one camera captured footage of the shooting itself, according to reports.

Follow staff reporter Jill Harmacinski on Twitter @EagleTribJill.