The 16-year-old boy was in critical condition following the 4:15 p.m. shooting, police said.
View full sizeA Springfield police office walks back to his cruiser on Washington Street. Behind him is the scene where a 16-year-old shooting victim had been found in the road.This is an update of a story first posted at 5:16 p.m.
SPRINGFIELD – A 16-year-old boy was shot three times and collapsed in a Forest Park intersection Thursday afternoon after falling out of a moving car, police said.
The boy was in critical condition at Baystate Medical Center with three gunshot wounds Thursday evening, said Springfield police Lt. John M. Bobianski
His name was not being released.
The boy was found lying in the middle of the intersection of Washington and Meredith streets, off Dickinson Street in the Forest Park neighborhood, just before 4:15 p.m., Bobianski said.
His car, a silver Honda, was parked a few hundred feet up the road.
Bobianski said police believe he was shot while in the car and then either fell out or jumped. Blood was found on the driver’s seat, he said.
The car is believed to have coasted up the road and came to rest when it hit a parked car.
Police were releasing no information about possible suspects.
People who lived in the vicinity said they did not hear any gunshots leading up to the discovery of the man in the road.
One woman, who said she called 911, said she saw the man “lying on the ground and other people were trying to help him.”
She said he seemed seriously hurt but was still conscious and seemed alert.
She said she had never seen him around before.
View full sizeMayor Domenic J. Sarno hands out cards with Text-a-Tip information to some teens at the scene of a shooting on Washington Street. Sarno, who lives a few blocks away, was heading home to his family when he saw all the police cars.Another woman who lives near the intersection said she was taking a nap and did not hear anything thing. She said she did not know anything had happened until she woke to see all the police cars outside her window.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno arrived on the scene shortly after 5 p.m. and was appraised of the shooting by police.
Sarno, who lives a few blocks away, said he was on his way home to have dinner with his family when he saw all the police cars.
The mayor said he was sick of the repeated flare-ups of violence in the city.
The city tallied its 9th homicide four days earlier when 38-year-old Raul E. Vera was found shot to death on Lincoln Street.
As people assembled outside the lines of police tape, Sarno walked around to hand cards containing information on the Text-A-Tip program.
People who wish to make anonymous tips to police can use their cell phones to text information to Springfield police via Text-A-Tip by addressing a text to “CRIMES,” or 274637, and then beginning the body of the message with the world “SOLVE.”
People can also contact the Springfield Detective Bureau by calling (413) 787-6355.
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