Teen dies trying to save father in home invasion: Asian gang pair nabbed in slayings

Tom Farmer:

A heroic Lynn teenager sacrificed her own life in a vain attempt to save her handicapped father from a hail of bullets allegedly fired by Asian gangbangers late Monday.

Both Amy Dumas, 16, and her father, Robert Finnerty Sr., 47, were killed in the shocking home invasion that may have followed a thwarted attempt by the killers to buy drugs.

"She got in front of him. She was trying to protect him," a tearful Debbie Patrazza said of Dumas, her niece.

"Who would think he would be shot sitting in his chair with his 16-year-old daughter trying to protect him," Patrazza said of Finnerty, her brother-in-law.

Finnerty and Dumas were shot multiple times just after 11 p.m. Monday when four men forced their way into their Cottage Street apartment, authorities said. Within minutes, two reputed gang members, Chon Son, 19, and Phap Buth, 30, of Revere, were under arrest. Two others are being sought.

Son, who sources said belongs to the "Oriental Boys" gang and is well known to local police, was arrested at an apartment building two streets away that prosecutor John Brennan said is known for Asian gang activity. Police seized a Tech-9 semiautomatic handgun and a .380-caliber handgun on a third-floor landing where Son was standing, he said.

Daughter shot trying to protect father from assailants

Police say Lynn shooting suspects well-known gang members