PARTYGOER SHOT IN WINTHROP
Hurt in return to cookout after fight
A 27-year-old man who walked away from a fistfight at a Winthrop cookout after police restored the peace was clubbed with a baton by another partygoer and shot in the gut with a rifle by the host when he came back with reinforcements, authorities said.
The victim, a Stoneham resident whose name police did not release, was in critical condition following surgery yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Andrew Guilfoyle, 31, the resident of the house on Revere Street in Winthrop’s Highlands neighborhood where the party took place, and party guest Jared Damelio, 28, were arrested on charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon — the rifle and the baton, respectively. They are expected to be arraigned tomorrow in East Boston District Court.
Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said Guilfoyle lawfully owned the rifle and admitted to using it during the confrontation.
A neighbor told the Herald that about 11 p.m., her adult daughter alerted her to a loud fight that was going on at Guilfoyle’s house.
“We didn’t call the police, but it seemed like the fight was pretty bad,” the neighbor said. “Anyway, someone must have called because the police showed up and broke up the fight.”
The neighbor retired to bed to listen to a podcast. Just after midnight, she said, “My daughter started screaming to me to call 911. While I was on the phone, I heard a gunshot. It sounded like a pop. It didn’t sound like it does on TV. My daughter was screaming, ‘Tell them to bring an ambulance!’ It was awful. It was an awful, awful night. My daughter is really shook up.”
Guilfoyle has been living in the house owned by his family for about a year, she said. “Andrew is the nicest kid,” she added.
Wark said the victim and the friends he brought back to the party with him were unarmed.
When a second fight broke out in the yard upon their arrival, Wark said Damelio struck the victim in the head with a baton and encouraged Guilfoyle to “get the gun.” The rifle was seized by investigators.
A night that Spiros Mathios, 75, fully expected would keep him awake from firecrackers instead left the retired Ritz-Carlton waiter and Winthrop resident of 47 years apprehensive about taking his morning constitutional.
“It’s never happened that we had an incident like this before. But I don’t know, life is everywhere now,” Mathios said, shaking his head. “Sometimes you’re afraid to walk on the street. It’s sad.”