Mastroianni said 3 recent fatal shootings may not cause an immediate public safety threat citywide, but they are a cause for the city to come together in figuring out a response.
Hampden District Attorney Mark G. MastroianniSPRINGFIELD – Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Friday each of the five murders in the city in a 10-day period must be looked at individually and do not – based solely on the alarming number – pose an increased threat to residents.
Mastroianni told The Republican and MassLive.com the five recent killings have differences that defy considering them in a group.
The assault Tuesday on Paul Bagge, 45, resulting in his death the next day is “a horrible event, it effects a lot of people in a horrible way,” Mastroianni said.
“Something like that doesn’t send up a red flag that there’s a problem and everyone has to worry about walking up and down the streets of Springfield,” he said. An arrest was made in that case.
But the two fatal shootings of teen victims, and the fatal shooting of 38-year-old Raul Vera on Lincoln Street, brought forth a different reaction from the region’s top law enforcement officer.
He said it would be “disingenuous and dishonest” if he said those acts of violence weren’t a cause for concern, saying they reflect a decades-long trend rooted in increasing hopelessness.
They may not cause an immediate public safety threat citywide, but they are a cause for the city to come together in figuring out a response, he said.
“From what we know about those cases, and they all still under investigation, and cases similar to that is that they’re generally involving young people who are showing such a lack of respect for human life, for the order of law in safe communities, and such a lack of respect really for themselves,” he said.
The one killing which Mastroianni calls “a completely separate” type of crime from the four other killings is the one he and other law enforcement officials are not talking about.
Mastroianni said Thursday 81-year-old Doris Alzak, who was found dead during a house fire at her 100 Phillips Ave. home on Tuesday, was a victim of homicide.
No other information, such as cause of death, has been released, fueling speculation in the city about whether there is a reason for concern about safety.
Mastroianni said Friday, “We’re not going to give out any information about that investigation because putting information out there right now would compromise our ability to follow up on parts of the investigation we need to do.”
The city’s homicide tally so far this year is 13, just three fewer than the total for all of last year. As this point in 2010, there were nine homicides in Springfield.
One of the latest five deaths resulted in an arrest. Guy Wilson, of 168 East St., was charged for the assault on Bagge, and officials say the charge is expected to be changed to reflect Bagge’s death.
The two teen victims were:
• Tyrel Wheeler, 16, found shot multiple times July 7 near his car on Washington Street. He died three days later.
• James Rosario, 18, who was shot to death July 9 at an early morning house party at his parents' house at 85 Edgeland St.
Police said an argument turned to pushing and shoving and then escalated into gunfire.
Discussing the killings of Vera, Rosario and Wheeler, Mastroianni talked about the mentality he sees in some violent crimes.
Mastroianni said he thinks some young people think they can commit a serious crime and “no one is going to tell on you.”
When Rosario was shot at the party “there were people everywhere,” he said.
“We certainly have leads in that case, but you would think under the circumstances we would have a lot more,” Mastroianni said.
He said of some violent crimes, “But what I think is even more alarming is that some of the younger people that we find have been involved in this, when you find out about that person’s history, it just leads you to the inescapable conclusion that they don’t care. “
Mastroianni said such young people believe, ‘I’m going to commit this crime and if no one talks to the police that’s great, but if someone does I don’t care.’”
He said people with so little respect for themselves and their futures have “invested all their time, energy and mental commitment to just being deviant like this.”
There will be an increase in police presence in some neighborhoods, Mastroianni said, but increasing police presence can’t prevent some killings.
Mastroianni said, for instance, there was no way for law enforcement to know that there was a party at Rosario’s house and it would turn violent. Use of social networks like Facebook facilitate impromptu gatherings that cannot be predicted, he said.
Saying an increase in crimes of drugs and violence is in large part the result of poverty and economic decline in a city is not what many people want to hear, but it is a reality in cities like Springfield, he said.
“It’s too difficult of an answer. It’s not a quick fix. It doesn’t make me feel good right now. It doesn’t make me put something flashy in the newspaper,” Mastroianni said.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, during a meeting Friday with Police Department representatives, said “proactive steps” they have been taken are:
• additional uniformed patrols
• increased narcotic bureau patrols
• city police anti-gang patrols in collaboration with State Police and FBI.
Mastroianni said his office and many agencies, churches and other organizations are doing important work to create programs in troubled neighborhoods to help young people go in a positive direction.
Mastroianni said Police Department detectives are working the killings of Vera, Wheeler and Rosario.
City police detectives are working with investigators from the state Fire Marshals Office on Alzak’s killing, he said.
Mastroianni said internal shifts are being made by leadership in the Police Department to free up enough detectives to dedicate their time to work on the recent homicides.