City police said the fatal shooting happened around 1:30 a.m. Sunday outside The Clover Cafe, 104 High St., where a 26-year-old man received a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
HOLYOKE -- Police are investigating the city's first homicide of the year, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. Sunday outside The Clover Cafe, 104 High St., where a 26-year-old Holyoke man was fatally wounded by a single gunshot to the head.
"It was one shot to the face,” Holyoke Police Sgt. Laurence Cournoyer said.
Authorities would not disclose the victim’s identity early Sunday morning because family members still had to be notified.
"We have nobody in custody at this point. (Detectives) are still interviewing witnesses," Cournoyer said.
Police did not immediately release any information about a motive or possible suspect, but they are asking anyone who may have witnessed the fatal shooting, or the events leading up to it, to call them at (413) 322-6900.
Details still remain sketchy, but investigators don't believe the victim was a patron of the Clover Cafe at the time of the shooting. Cournoyer said a preliminary investigation suggests the victim may have been chased to the corner of High and Lyman streets, the location of the bar, where he was fatally shot.
The homicide was Holyoke's first since September 2010, when 20-year-old Leroy Cortes of Greenfield was allegedly gunned down by 24-year-old Holyoke resident Luis Rivera in The Flats section of the city.
This is not the first time gunfire has erupted near the Clover Café. Last November, a 23-year-old West Springfield man was shot in the chest outside the well-known High Street establishment.
Meanwhile, a disturbance related to Sunday’s homicide in Holyoke occurred outside Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where the Holyoke man was rushed to following the shooting.
"Some hospital security guards got knocked down," Holyoke Police Sgt. Richard Stuart said, adding that some of the victim's supporters were banging on the ambulance door after it arrived at Baystate's Emergency Room entrance.
Springfield police were called to help quell the disturbance, according to Springfield Police Lt. Maurice T. Kearney.
Stuart said a Holyoke officer was at the scene of the hospital scuffle, where emotions were running high. The officer drove the ambulance to Baystate to give emergency medical personnel a chance to revive the gunshot victim during the trip from Holyoke to Springfield, Stuart said.
The victim was pronounced dead at Baystate, according to authorities.
More information will be posted on MassLive.com as it becomes available.