In an earlier, related shooting in Springfield, a man was killed on State Street.
SPRINGFIELD - A convict who escaped from Shirley state prison earlier this week wounded a Springfield police officer and a state trooper as he came out blasting from the trunk of a car he was using to try to escape after an earlier double shooting at a State Street barber shop, according to law enforcement officials.
The two officers, both wearing Kevlar vests, are expected to recover from their injuries, a police spokesman said.
Tamik Kirkland, 25, a Springfield resident who had been serving time for firearm and drug charges at Shirley medium prison, was shot several times by police in response to the attack at Burr and Cambridge streets. By mid-afternoon, law enforcement officials said he was still alive, however, at least one victim shot at Bill Brown’s House of Beauty on State Street reportedly had died.
Kirkland was being sought by a violent fugitive apprehension task force and had been deemed armed and dangerous after escaping earlier this week. Prison officials provided few details about his flight, but police confirmed his mother was one of two women shot in the North End on April 23. She escaped serious injury. Police said Kirkland, a member of the so-called Maynard Street posse, as been on the run since the shooting of this mother.
Springfield Police spokesman John M. Delaney said a city police officer and a state trooper were shot in an exchange of gunfire with Kirkland after two men were shot earlier at Bill Brown's House of Beauty at 946 State St. shortly after noontime.
4-30-11 - Springfield - Shooting scene at Cambridge and Burr St. where two police officers were shot. Here, Springfield police officer Raul Gonzalez (plainclothes) is assisted by a fellow officer after he was shot. His vest stopped the bullet. "They were both wearing vests, which likely saved their lives," Delaney said of the officers. He would not disclose the officers' identities and said they are expected to recover from their injuries.
William Brown, owner of the shop, said he was not present when the shooting occurred. Shortly after the shooting there, two bleeding men were seen splayed out inside the storefront shop receiving care from emergency personnel.
William Eason, a Hampden Superior Court clerk who lives yards from the Cambridge Street, said he had just returned home from a professional conference and heard about 20-25 shots in rapid succession.
"I heard the gunfire, looked out my window and a crowd of police were here within seconds," Eason said. "I saw one suspect near a truck with his hands in the air."
Law enforcement sources said the gunplay may have been sparked by a robbery. Hordes of Mason Square residents lined the streets around the shooting scenes, bemoaning the increasingly violent tone in the neighborhood.
A state police helicopter hovered overhead for a time, and police later put out an all points bulletin for 30-year-old Trevin Smith, of Springfield, in a silver or gray Lexus.
A press conference is scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday.
More details will be published as they become available.