Man arrested in fatal shooting outside Lowell temple

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

Paul Garcia, 38, of Dover, New Hampshire, is charged with armed assault with intent to murder; assault and battery by discharging a firearm; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon resulting in serious bodily injury; assault and battery with a dangerous weapon; and unlawful possession of a firearm, according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office. He is also scheduled to be arraigned on murder charges on Wednesday.

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

According to the Public Prosecution Service, a 26-year-old woman was also slightly injured in the shooting. She was treated and released from the local hospital.

Prosecutors say two groups of people were drinking, partying and setting off fireworks in the parking lot before the shooting, when a physical altercation occurred between the victims and others.

“A short time after the altercation, Paul Garcia allegedly fired into the crowd, killing Jose Ortiz and striking the two other victims before fleeing the scene,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Garcia was arrested Tuesday at a home in Lawrence. Information about the 38-year-old’s attorney was not immediately available.

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