Man arrested in fatal shooting outside Lowell temple

A New Hampshire man was arrested Tuesday in connection with a shooting at a temple in Lowell over the weekend that killed one person and injured two others, authorities announced. 

Paul Garcia, 38 of Dover, New Hampshire is charged with armed assault with intent to murder; assault and battery by discharge of a firearm; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office. He will also be arraigned on a murder charge on Wednesday.

Lowell police responded to the parking lot of the Swaminarayan Temple on Middlesex Street around 4:53 a.m. on Saturday for reports of gunshots, according to the DA’s office. At the scene, officers found about 30 people in the parking lot, including two men suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were taken to local hospitals, and one of the men, 43-year-old Jose Ortiz, died. The other man, a 34-year-old, was treated and released. 

A 26-year-old woman also sustained minor injuries in the shooting and was treated and released from a local hospital, according to the DA’s office.

Prosecutors said that before the shooting began, two groups of people were in the parking lot, drinking, partying, and setting off fireworks when a physical altercation involving the victims and others began. 

“Moments after the altercation Paul Garcia allegedly began shooting into the crowd of people killing Jose Ortiz and striking the two other victims before fleeing the scene,” the DA’s office said in a statement. 

Garcia was arrested Tuesday at a home in Lawrence. Attorney information for the 38-year-old was not immediately available.