Last modified: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 3:42 PM EDT
Andrew Colwell

Mansfield High grad victim of shooting

MANSFIELD - A recent graduate of Mansfield High School has been identified by police as the victim of last night's shooting at an apartment complex off Route 106.

Andrew Colwell, 18, of Tanya Drive was gunned down in his Jeep Cherokee outside the Edgewood Condominiums on Erick Road about 7 p.m. Monday.

Police are still searching for up to three suspects in the shooting.

Colwell had graduated a month ago today from Mansfield High where he had consistently been on the honor roll. He had also been on the high school boys' tennis team in the spring of 2007.

The shooting turned the normally quiet East Mansfield neighborhood into a virtual war zone as a police SWAT team and police helicopter combed the area and nearby woods for the suspects.

About 30 members of the Metropolitan Law Enforcement Council Regional Tactical Response Team, wearing bullet proof vests and toting assault rifles, searched the neighborhood assisted by Mansfield police, state police and state police K-9 units.

Police flooded streets in the area, including Route 106. There was a police helicopter flying above the area, shining a beam of light on the ground.

Neighbors reported someone running from the scene of the shooting.

Colwell was in a running Jeep that was parked in the housing complex's parking lot at the time of the shooting. Later, the vehicle was surrounded by yellow police crime scene tape and lit up for the investigation.

Chief Arthur O'Neill assured tense neighbors, who were notified by the town's reverse 911 system, they were safe. Police hoped to provide an update on the crime about noon today.

Leah Gramazio and her husband Michael have lived in one of the condominium buildings for just over a year.

She noted it was the second time in a week the SWAT team had been called to the neighborhood.

Last Wednesday night, a 53-year-old man was arrested after allegedly threatening others with a rifle. That incident was unrelated to Monday night's shooting, police said.

"This is absurd," Leah Gramazio said. She also said she is growing concerned about the neighborhood she said had been real quiet.

"I moved from Brockton to get away from it," added Michael Gramazio, referring to violence.

Check this site for more updates as the day progresses.