Police are asking the public to help identify the gunmen responsible for shootings outside a Dwight Street bar and a State Street convenience store.
The Chessmen Lounge, 459 Dwight St., Springfield, was the scene of an early-morning shooting Thursday that sent a local man to the hospital with multiple gunshot wounds.Updates stories published Thursday at 9:26 a.m., and Wednesday at 6:48 p.m.
SPRINGFIELD – With three shooting victims in three days, Springfield police are asking city residents to help investigators catch the gunmen responsible for the crimes.
Springfield Police Capt. William P. Collins said he had no new information about either Thursday’s shooting outside The Chessmen Lounge on Dwight Street or Tuesday’s shooting outside Express Gas & Food Mart on State Street.
According to police, a 35-year-old city man was shot three times after exiting the bar at 490 Dwight St. shortly before 2 a.m. Thursday. Police said the victim was in serious but stable condition at Baystate Medical Center.
Police Capt. Cheryl C. Clapprood said a gun was found inside the victim's car.
“This guy was up to something, too,” Clapprood said of the man, who sustained gunshot wounds to the groin, hip and knee.
The victim told police he encountered two men outside the bar, and they began shooting at him.
The assailants were described as two black men, one of whom was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with a white T-shirt underneath. They were last seen running down Lyman Street, police said.
Clapprood said The Chessmen Lounge is not known for being a trouble spot.
That said, there was a shooting outside The Chessmen Lounge in 2009 and a murder-kidnapping outside the bar in 1984, according to Republican archives.
A bartender at The Chessmen Lounge contacted by The Republican Thursday afternoon declined to comment about the shooting.
Springfield Police Detective James McCoy photographs blood stains and evidence in the parking lot of Express Gas & Food Mart, 1107 State St. The store was the scene of a double shooting with two teenage victims late Tuesday afternoon.Earlier this week, Springfield police scoured sections of the Bay and Upper Hill neighborhoods for a gunman responsible for shooting two 19-year-old city residents outside a State Street convenience store late Tuesday afternoon.
One teen was hit in the leg, the other in the abdomen in the parking lot of Express Gas & Food Mart, 1107 State St. The victim with the abdominal injury underwent emergency surgery at Baystate Medical Center, where he was listed in serious but stable condition.
The teenagers each were shot once by the same caliber weapon, according to Springfield Detective Lt. Trent Duda, which would suggest only one shooter in the case.
"At this point we're not sure," Duda said Wednesday.
The daylight shooting was reported just as the afternoon rush hour was getting underway. The State Street convenience store is located between Dresden and Cortland streets.
Police are asking anyone with information about either shooting to call the Springfield Detective bureau at (413) 787-6355. Police said those wishing to remain anonymous can send a text message to “CRIMES” (or 274637) and should begin their message with the word “SOLVE.”
Republican staff writer George Graham contributed to this report.