Salem Police Call Repeat Gunfire 'Highest Priority': Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Monday, Sept. 27. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• For the third time in a week Sunday night, Salem police responded to reports of shots fired near a Lafayette Street parking lot.
• The Northeast Animal Shelter is examining dozens of more rescue cats from Louisiana before putting them up for adoption.
• State Police are resigning by the dozens rather than get the mandated COVID-19 vaccine.
• A mystery involving gravestones found in a centuries-old shed will be solved just in time for Halloween.
• Nine people were injured in an escalator accident at Back Bay Station.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top North Shore Story

Another round of gunshots were confirmed fired in the area of Lafayette and Salem streets Sunday night— the third time in a week Salem police reported to the area for reports of gunfire.

Salem police said gunshots were confirmed both early Wednesday morning and early Sunday night.

For the second time, damage consistent with bullet holes was found in vehicles in or near the parking lot at 135 Lafayette Street. No injuries were reported in either incident.

Salem police: "This department is committed to using all available resources to identify, apprehend and prosecute those responsible for these criminal acts."

Read the full story here.

Today's Top Statewide Story

The State Police Association of Massachusetts said dozens of troopers have submitted their resignation papers Monday as a result of the state's recent coronavirus vaccination mandate.

Superior Court Judge Jackie Cowin on Thursday denied a request to delay Gov. Charlie Baker's state employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The union, representing 1,800 members of the State Police wanted to delay the mandate until the details could be worked out or bargained.

Per Gov. Baker's new mandate, the state is requiring all executive department employees to show proof of vaccination by Oct. 17, or risk losing their jobs.

"Dozens of troopers have already submitted their resignation paperwork, some of whom plan to return to other departments offering reasonable alternatives such as mask-wearing and regular testing," the union wrote after Cowin's decision.

Read the full story

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Monday's Other Top Stories

Grave mystery solved: It looks like the mystery of two gravestones found in a 220-year-old Sudbury shed used to store hearses will be solved just in time for Halloween. Sudbury is in the process of returning the gravestones found in the 1799 Hearse House — a structure at the Revolutionary War Cemetery that once stored Sudbury's lone funeral carriage — to their original home in Natick.

More Hurricane Ida cats brought to Salem for adoption: The Northeast Animal Shelter of Salem brought dozens of more cats north from storm-ravaged Louisiana this weekend as the shelter seeks to find forever homes for pets dislodged amid Hurricane Ida and its aftermath.

Residents sounding off: With pressure bearing down on them to do something — anything — to alleviate the constant barrage of train horns in Wakefield, Town Council will meet Monday and discuss the Broadway Crossing.

Escalator accident at Back Bay Station: Nine people were hurt after an incident at MBTA's Back Bay train Sunday night. The MBTA said the incident involved an escalator connecting the Amtrak/Commuter rail platforms to the street-level lobby of the station.

The acting mayor has spoken: Kim Janey endorsed City Councilor Michelle Wu as Boston's next mayor ahead of a historic election.

The 2021 Boston Marathon is Oct. 11. Read the latest on Patch's 2021 Boston Marathon hub.

Picture this

This charred, boarded-up house at 20 Berkley St. in Melrose hit the market last week with an asking price of $399,000, according to real estate website Redfin.

By The Numbers

80 — That's the percentage of students at staff at a middle or high school who need to be vaccinated in order to apply for an exemption from the state's newly extended school mask order.