The Connecticut man killed Saturday in Springfield was the city's eighth homicide victim this year. The North End has borne its share of this year's violence, including shootings, stabbings and killings.
The alley to the left of this Cumberland Street home in the North End is where Connecticut resident Carlos Beslanga was killed Saturday, making him Springfield's eighth homicide victim of the year.SPRINGFIELD -- City police continue to probe a North End killing that claimed the life of a Connecticut man who was visiting his mother in Springfield Saturday afternoon.
Carlos G. Beslanga, 32, of Newington, died from a single stab wound to the chest, according to Springfield police, who are searching for two North End residents in connection with the crime.
Police said the killing stemmed from an altercation that erupted after Beslanga urinated in a residential alleyway between 62 and 66 Cumberland St. shortly before 4:30 p.m.
Police said Saturday's homicide is Springfield's eighth this year.
Authorities said Beslanga "decided to relieve himself in the alleyway" before departing with his family for Newington, just south of Hartford. A male subject, identified as 37-year-old Luis Cintron, "took offense to this action and a verbal argument ensued," said Sgt. John M. Delaney, a spokesman for the Springfield Police Department.
Shootings, stabbings and homicides continue to plague the city's North End. Here, a coalition of Hispanic ministers is shown during a North End gathering last June to raise awareness about violence in Springfield. Delaney said Cintron produced a large knife and stabbed Beslanga once in the chest, puncturing the Connecticut man's heart and a lung.
Springfield Police Capt. Cheryl C. Clapprood said arrest warrants have been issued for Cintron and Noemy Ramos, the 33-year-old woman who was with him at the time of Saturday's killing.
Police said Cintron and Ramos, who are considered "armed and dangerous," are both facing murder charges. Police continue to monitor their residence at 66 Cumberland St.
"There's a feeling that they might try to return," Clapprood said Sunday.
Beslanga was pronounced dead at Baystate Medical Center, which is only around 100 yards from the Cumberland Street alleyway. Cumberland, an east-west street, runs between Chestnut and Main streets.
The stretch of Cumberland Street between Chestnut and Dwight streets was quickly transformed into a crime scene after the killing, as uniformed officers, plainclothes detectives, cruisers and unmarked police vehicles flooded the short block. Several hours later, however, there was nary a trace that a crime had occurred on the residential street.
Accused murderer Tamik KirklandDelaney said investigators, led by Springfield Police Detective Capt. Peter Dillon and Detective Lt. Trent Duda, are "following very good leads and information."
The city's latest homicide comes three weeks after the shooting death of Sheldon Innocent, a Wilbraham man gunned down inside a Springfield barbershop on April 30. The suspect in that slaying, Tamik Kirkland, is also accused of shooting an employee of the State Street barbershop and of wounding two police officers in a subsequent shootout.
The funeral of alleged murder victim Sheldon Innocent.Police are investigating whether Kirkland, who escaped from state prison in eastern Massachusetts, engaged in a roughly week-long spurt of violence to avenge the shooting of his mother, who was wounded by gunfire on April 23 in the North End.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about Saturday's slaying to call the Springfield Police Department Detective Bureau at (413) 787-6355. Text-message tips may be sent via Text-a-Tip, an anonymous crime-reporting system. Messages should be addressed to CRIMES (or 274637) and should begin with the word SOLVE.
THE MAP BELOW shows the approximate location of Saturday afternoon's fatal stabbing in Springfield's North End: