A birthday party on Royal Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts turned deadly in the early hours of Sunday, April 30, 2023, when gunfire erupted around 3 a.m. Eighteen-year-old Desiderio Arias was among six people shot at a third-floor apartment; he was taken to Lawrence General Hospital and pronounced dead. Five other victims were wounded, two badly enough to be airlifted to Boston-area hospitals.

Investigators from the Essex County District Attorney’s Office State Police Detective Unit and Lawrence Police responded. Two men who had also been shot at the party — Saul Enrique Morales Espinosa, 22, and Joshual Ramirez, 20, both of Lawrence — were arrested. They were charged with carrying a firearm without a license and carrying a loaded firearm, pleaded not guilty at a remote arraignment while hospitalized, and were held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing. Authorities have said the shooting does not appear to have been random.

If anyone attended that party or has information about the sequence of events that night, please share what is known with investigators.