Police continued to investigate the two homicides, which occurred 18 hours apart on Sunday. Watch video
The photo of Kevin Gomez can be seen in this memorial set up where he was killed.CHICOPEE – Several hundred students at Chicopee Comprehensive High School dressed in white Monday as a tribute to fallen classmate Kevin Gomez who was shot to death early Sunday in Springfield.
Students at the school were grieving the loss of Gomez, a 16-year-old freshman who played for the school’s basketball and football teams.
“It was a tough day,” said varsity football coach Marc D. Schuerfeld.
Gomez was found shot in the back on the street near 729 Belmont Ave. shortly after midnight on Sunday morning. He was pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center a short time later.
He was said to have just attended a birthday party in Springfield.
A man police identified as Craig Fish, 40, of 96 Maple St. was found outside his apartment building at about 8:15 p.m. Sunday.
Fish had a laceration to his abdomen and other stab wounds to his upper body. He was rushed to Baystate Medical Center but pronounced dead.
His death was the second homicide in Springfield in one day.
Police had little new information about either homicide, which were the fifth and sixth of the year.
There have been no arrests.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno, Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni and Police Commissioner William Fitchet are scheduled to have a press briefing Tuesday.
They are expected to discuss Mastroianni’s decision to have state police investigators lead all homicide investigations for the month of April, but may also discuss the latest violence.
At Chicopee Comp, grief counselors were made available in the school library throughout the day to help distraught teens who knew Gomez.
“We are trying to help the kids out as much as possible. It is going to be a tough couple of weeks for them,” said varsity basketball coach Michael C. Beck.
Gomez was remembered as nice person and hard working, both on and off the court.
“He was a member of our team and our family, and he will be greatly missed,” said Schuerfeld. “It is a tremendous tragedy and we are going to cope as best we can.”
Also grieving was the family of Fish, a Holyoke native and Westfield Alternative School graduate, who were shocked to learn of his death.
His father, Edward J. Fish, lives in Holyoke, but he was too distraught to be interviewed.
A cousin, Kelly Thimmish of Southwick, remembered Craig Fish as a nice guy with a great sense of humor, but also said he spent much of his adult life battling with demons, which she said were primarily addictions to drugs and alcohol.
“He was a great guy,” Thimmish said. “We called him the ‘gentle giant.’”
Diane English, of Westfield, an aunt, said Fish had worked at C&S Wholesale, did landscaping and made deck furniture.
“When he was working, people loved his work,” she said.
She said he went “down a rough patch,” but was convinced he had made it through it.
“I talked to him on March 5, on his 40th birthday, and he was happy-go-lucky Craig,” she said.
He told her that he was sober and he sounded positive about his life and his future, she said.
She said she did not know what happened to him between the last time they talked and his death.
She said all she knew about how he died was “Craig didn’t deserve it.”
Republican Reporter Sandra Constantine contributed to this report