A man has been arrested in connection with one of two shootings that occurred over a violent weekend in Springfield, Massachusetts, that left one person dead and another injured.
Hiram Martinez, 38, a Springfield resident, was arrested Wednesday near the intersection of Temple and School Streets, precisely where the double shooting occurred last Saturday, the Springfield Police Department said in a press release. .
That day, Springfield police officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation and located two shooting victims in front of 38 School Street. Both victims were transported to the hospital, and one of them, identified by police as 34-year-old James Brown, succumbed to her injuries that night. The second victim, an adult male, sustained non-life-threatening injuries, was treated and released from the hospital, he was told.
The Springfield Police Homicide Unit began to investigate and identified Martinez as a suspect. On Wednesday, Homicide Detectives requested and obtained an arrest warrant for Martinez, he said.
According to authorities, at the time of this arrest, Martinez was out on bond on charges of firearms possession and rape in Chicopee. While out on bond, Springfield police officers arrested Martinez twice and he was subsequently released. Martínez also has a prior conviction for cocaine trafficking.
“This individual should never have been on our streets and in our neighborhoods, especially considering previous firearms possession and rape charges, including being arrested twice while out on bail, and yet , the courts released him again,” Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said in the press release. “This individual exemplifies a violent repeat criminal offender who should not have been released. Now, due to the leniency of the courts and some judges, a life was cut short and a family in mourning. This sad and tragic event could have been prevented if the courts and some judges had simply done their job and held and jailed these repeat violent criminals.”
Police further reported that Martinez is charged with murder, assault and battery with a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, firing a firearm within 500 feet of a building, and cocaine trafficking, among other charges. .
