A Community Shattered
Lynnfield is an affluent, suburban community 20 miles north of Boston. It is a quiet town where little extraordinary happens. Usually, the biggest events are the Memorial Day parade and the annual 4th of July road race. But today, it is a community mourning the death of a respected community member and struggling to understand how such a violent death could have taken one of their own.
Mark
Ferullo, 22, and a Division I hockey player at Merrimack College, first
met Michael Costin when Ferullo was a counselor at the Lynnfield summer
parks and recreation camp. Ferullo remembers how Costin, a single parent
of four, would come down to the park and organize a game of baseball and
get the whole park playing.
“I think the incident is awful,” Ferullo said in a phone interview with Extra. “I don’t know how a guy can continue beating someone who is unconscious and can’t defend himself - I can’t understand how people could just sit there and watch it, especially with 10-year-olds around.”
Ferullo said it is a frequent
occurrence at loosely-organized hockey “stick practices,” when
kids are not wearing protective gear, for more advanced players to start
“checking,” or physically obstructing others, leaving the less
advanced kids physically hurt and upset.