UPDATE: Hampden District Attorney’s Office issued clarification, Johnluis Sanchez is currently hospitalized and will be arraigned at a later date
A Holyoke man is charged with murder following the deadly shooting in the city on Wednesday afternoon at the intersection of Sargeant and Maple streets.
Johnluis Sanchez, 30, of Holyoke had previously been expected to be arraigned in Holyoke District Court on Thursday morning with other charges expected to follow.
However, he remains hospitalized as of Thursday morning and will be arraigned when his condition allows, according to the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office.
A second suspect, Alejandro Ramos, 22, of Holyoke, has also been charged with murder with other charges expected to follow, according to James Leydon, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office.
Ramos is expected to be arraigned on Thursday morning.
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A pregnant woman was among the injured victims in a shooting in Holyoke on Wednesday afternoon, and authorities said her baby died after being delivered.
The shooting took place at about 12:30 p.m. near 397 Maple St. and police have at least three suspects in custody, according to Massachusetts State Police and the district attorney’s office.
Authorities said three men were involved in the altercation and that a bullet struck a bus and hit an uninvolved woman who was seated in the bus, according to Hampden District Attorney spokesperson James Leydon.
The woman was pregnant and brought to a nearby hospital in critical condition. The baby was delivered and needed “life-saving medical services” but did not survive, Leydon said.
Leydon said the mother was in critical condition on Wednesday night but did not know her condition as of Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m.
Jose Almonte, the manager of Almonte Market #2 in Holyoke, said he caught much of the incident on his video surveillance cameras.
A massive monitor display facing the cash register showed views from at least eight cameras the manager set up inside and out of the store. Almonte stated he’d turned over the footage to law enforcement for the investigation.
Holyoke Mayor Joshua A. Garcia said he’s lost his patience for this “nonsense.”
“I want the public to know that I am equally outraged and frustrated with these senseless acts of violence and illegal activity on our streets,” Garcia wrote on Facebook. “I struggle with it every day attempting to offer a balanced solution. Quite frankly, I have lost my patience. I plan to work with all resources available to me to push this nonsense out of our city.”
And Gov. Maura Healey called the shooting “senseless.”
“Every life lost to gun violence is a tragedy, especially those taken far, far too soon,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “My heart goes out to the victims, families, and all of Holyoke in the wake of this afternoon’s senseless shooting.”
Just hours before the deadly shooting on Wednesday, the Holyoke Police Department made an announcement pushing the public to call 911 when they hear gunshots, according to State House News Service.
The department stated only 12% of potential shooting incidents picked up by new police surveillance systems were actually reported as 911 calls from residents during the technology’s first six months of use.
There were 117 activations of the ShotSpotter gunfire-detecting technology stationed throughout two square miles in the city from March through August. The devices detect and triangulate the location of potential gunfire, the outlet reported.
Out of 454 total potential shootings detected by the new technology, Holyoke Police Chief David Pratt said the city got only 14 calls to 911 reporting those potential shootings, the news service reported.
Officials said multiple people called 911 after the shooting Wednesday afternoon.
The incident is under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Hampden District Attorney’s Office and the Holyoke Police Department.
