Police cleared in killing of Iraq veteran with PTSD

Lynn police cleared in fatal shooting of Iraq veteran
Victim had taken gun from officer
Boston Globe
By John R. Ellement
GLOBE STAFF
JANUARY 28, 2014

JESSICA RINALDI FOR THE GLOBE/FILE
Denis Reynoso had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Lynn police Officer Joshua Hilton was justified in using deadly force against an Iraq war veteran who had managed to grab hold of another officer’s gun and fire two shots at police during a desperate struggle, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett concluded Tuesday.

Hilton acted to protect himself and others from Denis Reynoso, 29, who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and was behaving irrationally, Blodgett said in a statement and report on an investigation into the Sept. 5 incident.

“When Mr. Reynoso gained control of an officer’s gun and fired two rounds in close proximity to two police officers despite their attempts to get the gun away from him, he put their lives in imminent danger, thus justifying the use of lethal force by a third officer,’’ Blodgett said in a statement.

Reynoso continued to laugh and scream even after he was shot once in the left flank, the report said. He died at Lynn Union Hospital about five hours after the incident began. According to the report, Reynoso’s 5-year-old son was in the living room during the fatal confrontation.
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Iraq veteran charged with infant's death was self-medicating

Friend: Accused man took path of self-destruction
The Daily Item
By Cyrus Moulton
July 15, 2013

Anthony Gideika at his arraignment
Wednesday in Lynn.
(Item Photo / Owen O'Rourke)

LYNN — A longtime friend said he could not believe Anthony Gideika, the city man charged Wednesday with beating an infant to death, would purposely have killed the child.

But the friend also said Gideika should not have been caring for the deceased and the child’s twin brother, describing how Gideika abused drugs to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning from serving in Iraq.

“I don’t think he purposely, in my heart, I don’t think he shook [the baby] or slammed it; but I could definitely see him dropping it,” Chris Webb, Gideika’s friend since high school said. “He was already a self-destructive kind of person the last couple of years from the Army, and now he has to live with having the baby die, which is honestly why I believe he didn’t do anything on purpose to his baby.”

Prosecutors said Gideika had recently learned he was not the twins’ father and was “self-medicating” with Klonopin to handle post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq.

Gideika pleaded not guilty and maintained that he had dropped the baby several times and any injuries were involuntary.
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Army vet struggling to find a place to live

Army vet struggling to find a place to live
By Thor Jourgensen
The Daily Item

LYNN — A disabled veteran who lost her apartment to an arson fire said she could lose her temporary home downtown any day now if she can’t find longer-term housing.

“I don’t have many choices right now,” said Kim Valenti.

The Army veteran said her 30-day tenancy in a Liberty Street apartment ran out April 29 and she has scrambled to find a new home she can share with cats Lefty and Righty and her bird, Luca.

Luca and Valenti fled from 145 Lewis St. on March 25 when a fire, subsequently determined to be arson by investigators, started in the building. The cats spent several days in the burnt-out building before being rescued, and Valenti received help in finding her current apartment from the American Red Cross and Salvation Army, local shelter workers, city officials and her former landlord.
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Lynn firefighter made 'tourniquets out of belts and shoe strings'

Lynn firefighter made 'tourniquets out of belts and shoe strings'
Originally Published on Wednesday, April 17, 2013
By Thor Jourgensen
The Daily Item

LYNN — The low-pitched boom silenced the crowd seated around Matt Patterson inside Abe and Louie's, and the explosion that followed drove the Lynn firefighter to his feet and toward the restaurant's front door.

Patterson pushed through other diners, shouting at them to move to the restaurant's kitchen, before running outside and clearing one, then a second barrier blocking off the Boston Marathon's finish line area along Boston's Boylston Street.

The 30-year-old Army veteran's training and firefighter paramedic skills kicked in as Patterson knelt next to a boy lying in the street. One of the blasts sheared off the boy's right leg and Patterson told a man who ran up to help him, "I need your belt."
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A life of service may be honored by a city

Many combat veterans returned home from war ready to do even more for the sake of others. Many went to work as police officers and firefighters. Some went to work for the cities and towns they lived in. When they were no longer able to do those jobs due to the service they already provided the nation in war, they ended up with a loss of income as well as a loss of ability to continue the "mission" of serving others. This is an idea that should be support across the nation. This is about taking care of the men and women that always took care of others.

Lynn council set to tackle disabled vets pay
Originally Published on Tuesday, November 15, 2011
By Chris Stevens
The Daily Item
LYNN - The City Council is expected to discuss a proposal that calls for paying retired city employees - who are also veterans - an extra benefit if they retired with a disability.

Lynn resident Lorraine Bourgeois hopes that if the proposal passes it will bring an end to a decade-old battle to get veterans the money she believes they deserve.

"It is too late for my father, Norman Bourgeois, a retired firefighter or my uncle ... they died," she said. "So the best way to honor (Norman Bourgeois) is to finish this struggle because he initially started this 10 years ago."

Norman Bourgeois, according to his daughter, pushed the city to adopt Chapter 157 of the Acts of 2005, which would allow a community to retroactively calculate veterans benefits into pensions for retired state or municipal employees who ended their careers on disability.

Bourgeois took up her father's fight four years ago and will ask the council's subcommittee on Veterans, Youth and Elderly tonight to approve the act. It has already been approved by the city's Retirement Board.

Retirement Board Administrator Gary Brenner said the board voted 3-1 with City Councilor elect G. Buzzy Barton, Claire Cavanagh and Richard Biagotti voting in favor, John Pace voting against and Chairman Michael Marks not voting. Brenner said it would cost the city $269,000 to pay the retired veterans retroactively.
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Expanding VA clinic meets hike in demand

Expanding Lynn VA clinic meets hike in demand

By David Liscio / The Daily Item

LYNN - With ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and baby boomers who fought in the Vietnam War now reaching retirement age with medical needs, the Veterans' Administration clinic on Boston Street is a busy place.

The clinic recently underwent a major expansion, increasing in size from 1,900 to nearly 8,000 square feet. A ribbon-cutting was held last month.

According to Arthur Salkins, 64, of Lynn, a U.S. Air Force veteran and commander of Franco-AMVETS Post 161, the clinic had 900 registered patients when it opened in 1998. Today, there are 2,143, said Salkins, who counts himself among them.

"Lynn has the highest number of veterans of any community in Essex County," he said Wednesday. "That's why this location is so important."

Michael Sweeney, the city veterans' agent, explained the expansion required gutting the first floor. "It was worth it and work is still under way in some parts of the building," he said. "The clinic provides a level of comfort. It's close by, so there's easy access. For some of the young returning veterans, that may make the difference of whether they come in for services or not."

U.S. Rep. John F. Tierney, a Salem Democrat and longtime proponent of the clinic, said the five-year fight during the Bush Administration to keep the facility in Lynn paid off. "We were able to convince them not to consolidate the clinic. Their proposals didn't stand up to what the actual facts were," he said Wednesday. "
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Expanding Lynn VA clinic meets hike in demand

Vietnam vets honored with special day in Lynn MA

Vietnam vets honored with special day in Lynn


By David Liscio / The Daily Item

LYNN - The older ones are in their late 70s, the younger just about 60.

They're veterans of the Vietnam War and on Sunday they'll be honored across Lynn, the result of a special proclamation read aloud Friday at City Hall by Mayor Edward Clancy Jr.

Veterans representing every conflict since World War II gathered in the lobby for a recognition ceremony, some still able to fit into their military uniforms.

"I had to go outside," said Tom Miller, 67, of Lynn, who spent 22 years in the Marine Corps and served two tours of duty in Vietnam. "I got too emotional when I heard them play the Star Spangled Banner."

The notes burst from veteran Dick Perry's trumpet, filling the cavernous room. The men saluted flags held erect by members of the ROTC. Chris Lewis, president of his class at Lynn Classical High School, read the sobering statistics from the Vietnam War - 47,424 battle deaths and 153,303 with non-mortal wounds. More than 58,000 died as a result of the war. About 7.1 million Vietnam-era veterans are living.
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City needs donations for Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall

Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall to return to Lynn


By Robin Kaminski / The Daily Item

LYNN - The "Wall That Heals," a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Washington D.C., will be on display at Fraser Field next year.

A beacon of hope to aid the healing process for thousands of veterans over the years, the wall has also acted as a voice for the names of the souls on the memorial to exist once more.

A success the first time it rolled into the city in 1999, the Lynn Department of Veterans' Services will once again sponsor the event from Aug. 27-30, 2009.

Fundraising to help defray costs for the event has already begun, and a raffle will be held tonight prior to the North Shore Navigators game at Fraser Field.

Michael Sweeney, director of Veterans' Services said Solimine Funeral Homes has partnered with the city and Lynn veteran organizations to help organize the event.

"Along with Lucia Lighting and Design, they have donated two pairs of Red Sox vs. Yankee tickets for the last game of the season, Sept. 27, to be raffled off," he said. "And Bob Hulgren, a Vietnam veteran, and his wife Adelle really deserve credit for helping sell raffle tickets at every Navigator game." For $10, tickets can be purchased at City Hall in the Veterans' Service office or at Fraser Field. Proceeds will help pay for the costs associated with bringing the wall to Lynn and other veteran programs.

Sweeney said tickets could also be purchased through the Lynn Veterans' Council, and the Vietnam Veterans of America, Lynn Chapter 908, and through other veteran posts throughout the city.
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For those of you who read my book, you know I'm from Lynn. I remember going to see the Wall and the reaction of the veterans as moving as ever. Years never seem to change the way they look at the Wall no matter how many times they stand in front of it. Now, it's not just for the Vietnam veterans but for all veterans. Much like the Vietnam veterans have fought for benefits for all veterans, this Wall serves as a testament to their compassion for each other and all who have worn the uniform. Politics gone. Pro or Con gone. All that matter is the lives lost for the sake of serving this nation and each other.

I've seen Iraq and Afghanistan veterans approach the Wall the same way I used to see the Gulf War veterans approach it. They stand in awe as they walk past the panels. Are they thinking of the men and women they served with who are no longer here? I believe they are. No matter what or where they served, this Wall has managed to touch all of them. It helps to heal the families of the fallen as well. If you live in the area, please help Lynn out with a donation to host the Wall.

Injured Lynn MA cop improving after pileup

Two Lynn Police patrol units were total wrecks after the bizarre accident at the corner of Chestnut Street and Western Avenue in Lynn early Saturday morning.(Photo / Alan Webster)

Injured Lynn cop improving after pileup
By Dan O’Brien/The Daily Item
LYNN - The Lynn police officer most seriously injured in a violent weekend cruiser accident remains in intensive care but is improving, Police Chief John Suslak said Sunday.Officer Gregory LeBlanc was airlifted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital shortly after the crash around 12:45 a.m. Saturday. He was trapped inside his police car before firefighters used the “Jaws of Life” to free him.[more]