Unsolved shooting points to drugs after arrest of victim

By Mike Berger

A mysterious late-night shooting incident that has gone unsolved for six months now appears to be drug-related after the victim, a 29-year-old Canton man, was arrested last month on drug distribution and weapons charges.

Daniel Dipp of 646 Chapman Street, Apartment 2, was arrested near his home on September 17 following an alleged drug transaction and faces charges of distribution of a class A substance (heroin) and conspiracy to violate the drug laws as well as firearms violations.

Last week, Canton Police Chief Ken Berkowitz also confirmed that it was Dipp who was the victim in the March 15 shooting on Chapman Street.

The incident occurred shortly after 2 a.m., when an unknown assailant came to the residence and fired at Dipp, hitting him in the neck. Dipp, who was at home at the time with his girlfriend and her two children, was airlifted to Boston Medical Center, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and subsequently released.

Berkowitz said the shooter has yet to be indentified and that Dipp has been uncooperative with police, refusing to provide any information about who shot him and why.

Berkowitz, however, reaffirmed his belief that Dipp was the intended target and that the shooting was likely drug-related. He added that police had been monitoring Dipp for suspected drug activity leading up to his arrest last month.

Berkowitz said the arrest was the result of “great police work” by a team of officers, particularly Sergeant Michael Lank and officers Sean Goode and Brian Wanless. The chief also commended detectives Eric Wade and John Ruane and Detective Sgt. Jim Quigley for obtaining and executing the search warrant that led to the discovery of a nine-millimeter handgun and ammunition at Dipp’s residence.

Lank and Goode had been working a road detail in the area earlier that day when they noticed Dipp acting suspiciously while exiting his apartment on Chapman Street. Lank, aware that Dipp had recently been involved in a narcotics transaction in an adjacent commercial parking lot, followed him to the same lot where he observed him meet up with two other individuals in a grey SUV.

After witnessing what he believed to be a drug transaction, Lank directed marked units to make a traffic stop while Goode stopped and detained Dipp.

A search of the SUV turned up a small amount of heroin, and the driver, Daniel Lounge, 22, of Avon, was arrested and charged with the same drug offense as Dipp. The other passenger in the SUV, an unidentified female, was not arrested.

Dipp pleaded not guilty to the drug and weapons charges and is currently being held at the Dedham House of Correction. Lounge also pleaded not guilty and was released pending his trial.

Berkowitz said officers Lank, Goode and Wanless will receive letters of commendation from selectmen for their efforts. “It was great police work by all involved,” he said.

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