Danvers man held in shooting of woman
Suspect arrested after standoff with troopers
DANVERS — A man allegedly shot a woman at a trailer park here on Monday, drawing a massive State Police response as the suspect remained barricaded inside a trailer for roughly two hours before authorities took him into custody, officials said.
Police went to 98 Newbury St., a trailer park off the southbound side of Route 1, shortly after noon when a woman called 911 and reported that she had been shot multiple times and fled to a neighbor’s home, according to the Essex district attorney’s office and Danvers police.
As officers approached the trailer, Joseph M. Hurley, 62, allegedly fired “several rounds” out a window toward the officers, the district attorney’s office said.
Officers were able to reach the victim, who was taken to Beverly Hospital and medflighted to a Boston hospital, authorities said. Details of her condition were not immediately available.
Police shut down a portion of Route 1 as authorities worked to resolve the standoff, and State Police urged people to avoid the area.
State Police, officers from several area departments, and the Northeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council responded to the scene. Many troopers were seen in tactical gear with long guns.
Police said at 2:16 p.m. that Hurley was in custody, and Route 1 was reopened to traffic a short time later.
Hurley was taken to a hospital and is expected to be arraigned in Salem District Court on Tuesday on charges of armed assault with intent to murder, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition, the district attorney’s office said.
A white trailer was heavily damaged, with a large window at one end smashed. A smaller window had a couple of holes that appeared to have been caused by projectiles. The white trailer and a teal-colored trailer next to it were cordoned off with yellow police tape.
About a half-hour before Hurley was taken into custody, police evacuated a nearby day care facility, according to video from WHDH-TV.
Ken Salvato, a resident of the trailer park since 2017, said he heard the dogs in Hurley’s house barking “like crazy” about 1:30 p.m., and then he heard two bangs.
State troopers and drones converged on the area as police tried to get Hurley out of the home, Salvato said.
Vincent DiStasio, 40, was getting the mail for his mother a couple doors down from the trailer when the police arrived.
“They kept banging on the door to get him to come out,” DiStasio said.
Salvato saw Hurley leave his house and said “they strapped him up in a straightjacket” because “he was flailing his hands.” Salvato said he’s known Hurley since he moved into the trailer park, and that Hurley had lived there since the late 1990s.
He said Hurley told him “he would get depressed.”
”I knew he was off his meds because I was the one who took him,” Salvato said, explaining that for a while he had driven Hurley to medical appointments each week. “I knew something was going to happen, it was just a matter of time, but I didn’t know any shots would be fired. I didn’t even know he had a handgun, to be honest.”
DiStasio said Hurley and the victim have had problems before.
“They’ve had relationship issues in the past, I don’t what led to it this time,” he said. “It’s a very sad situation.”
Several neighbors said they didn’t know anything had happened until police swarmed the area and officers began ordering people to stay indoors.
“I was heading out and saw all these police coming and they’re saying, ‘Get inside the house!’” said Gloria Pachas, 73.
“It was scary at that moment, I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew that something big was happening,” she said.
The shooting is under investigation by the Danvers Police Department and State Police detectives assigned to the district attorney’s office, officials said.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Ava Berger can be reached at ava.berger@globe.com.