Shooting pains: Though violence doesn't always travel, aspects of Springfield's drug, gang culture echo through region
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SPRINGFIELD - On a cold Friday morning, a table of candles flickered outside the house where a young mother was struck by bullets Sunday, becoming Springfield's 17th murder victim and third in a five-day spate of fatal violence.
Here on Wilmont Street, the flowers and message were for this victim's family - to ease their loss. But Springfield's crime isn't the city's problem alone, area law enforcement officials say.
While violent crime seems to stay contained within pockets in the Springfield community, the drugs, the guns, the gangs, the crime and people on the lam find their way up Interstate Route 91 to Hampshire County.
"A lot of things that are happening in other communities affect the surrounding communities. The violence stems from drug-related problems and there's always a supply city," said Easthampton Police Chief Bruce W. McMahon.
"There's no such thing as boundaries any more," he added. "Crime doesn't stop at your boundary. It goes everywhere."
Early last Sunday, one more crime in Springfield's dismal autumn started at Brittany M. Perez' Wilmont Street house.
Perez, 18, was gunned down at 1:40 a.m. Sunday morning while at home, the victim of a barrage of .22-caliber bullets fired into the house, allegedly, over the theft of a television set. Police said Perez had nothing to do with the missing TV. Daniel Horne, a 26-year-old neighbor, pleaded innocent to charges relating to Perez's death earlier this week in Springfield District court.
The bullet holes in the gray home's front window were no longer visible from the street Friday. A sheet of plastic over a missing window moved in the breeze. A few scattered yellow carnations and a purple flower were strewn on the lawn, along with a white plastic cross and a sympathy card for the Perez family.
Springfield police and politicians connect the recent rise in violence with the bad economy and an influx of drugs and guns in the city.
"People out there want a part of the action and they're armed to the hilt," said Police Sgt. John M. Delaney, noting that Springfield officers have taken 262 guns off the streets this year, about 60 more than the number confiscated in all of 2008.
The Springfield effect
Last week, citizens of Springfield suffered three homicides, including Perez. On Oct. 15, Omar Gallego, 23, was gunned down at Main and East Hooker streets in the Memorial Square neighborhood. On Oct. 17, Carmelo Adorno Jr., 26, was shot to death in his car as he drove on Chapin Terrace in Liberty Heights at around 2:30 a.m.
Violent areas in Springfield now include the North End, specifically Plainfield Street, and certain parts of the city's center, including sections of Mason Square, as well as Federal and Worthington streets, Delaney said.
The City of Homes is on track to meet or surpass a 10-year high of 20 homicides in a year, a number reached in 2007.
According to Delaney, 60 percent of the city's crime is gang related and much of that has to do with guns or "misguided" ideas about respect. There are about 1,100 gang members living in Springfield, belonging mostly to five hybrid street gangs with estimated memberships between 185 and 200 people each, according to the Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safe Initiative, an anti-gang Massachusetts resource.
"Young kids, 16, 17, 18, 19 years old, think they're going to get respect by pulling a gun on an unarmed person and shooting them," Delaney said. "None of these acts are random, there's no drive-bys. It's basically drug dealer against drug dealer and gun problems."
A drug hub
Crime in Springfield inches its way out to Hampshire County in a number of ways.
Springfield, with its convenient connection to highways linking New York City, Hartford and Boston, is a drug hub. Narcotics arrive in the city and are then distributed throughout the area.
Springfield is now experiencing a narcotics "glut," Delaney said, with heroin and crack cocaine prices falling to compete for customers.
"Drug dealers in New York know this and come out here looking to cut out the middle man," Delaney said. "Then violence erupts on our streets."
Gang members, some linked with the Latin Kings, do live in Hampshire County communities - or find a place in the northern Valley to hide after a crime, law enforcement officials said.
These people, however, are typically not involved in violence locally. Police said they keep an eye on individuals living here and regularly meet with Springfield and area police detectives to share information.
"There's distribution up the 91 corridor," said Northampton Police Chief Russell P. Sienkiewicz, noting the number of drug arrests on the highway.
And where there are drugs, there are guns.
Although the problem has died down, Sienkiewicz said that a few years back guns from Springfield were in Northampton.
"There were certain people up here carrying firearms," Sienkiewicz said. "Narcotics, violence and guns go hand in hand."
Amherst is seeing a different kind of effect from Springfield crime - fewer resources to manage the college town's own law-breakers.
Amherst is attempting to secure the State Police's Community Action Team, a task force of eight officers, to assist local officers during the occasionally rambunctious Halloween weekend.
But Chief Scott P. Livingstone doesn't like his odds.
At the request of Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno, the "CAT" unit will be in Springfield for the next two weeks, to help the city's 386 patrol officers quash the recent rise in violence.
The number of patrol officers is 75 fewer than the department had seven years ago, Delaney said. At the end of the two weeks, state police and city officials will discuss whether an extension is needed.
"Springfield will try to justify it because, let's face it, their crime involves shootings and drugs and currently - knock on wood - our crime is not as serious yet," Livingstone said.
Stopping crime
Springfield is taking a two-pronged approach to stopping crime, Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet and Sarno explained to an audience of 900 people gathered at Western New England College Tuesday to discuss the recent spike in violence.
The strategy includes effective policing and community engagement.
About a month ago, the Springfield Police Department launched an anonymous texting tip-line, which has helped officers gain information and maneuver around a "no snitching" culture" alive in Springfield.
Officers also participate in an early-intervention program that aims to encourage children in the fifth and sixth grades not to join gangs. The six-week program - known as GREAT: Gang Resistance Education and Training - includes field trips and mentoring.
"This is not something we can solve overnight or something the police department alone can solve," Delaney said. "We need partnerships with the community, churches, organizations and schools to work hard and get involved."
The City Council is on its way to approving an ordinance that would allow officers to fine people recruiting for gangs.
Under the ordinance, which was approved in a preliminary round of councilor voting this month, a person involved in gang activity is subject to a $100 fine for a first offense, a $200 fine for a second offense and a $300 fine for the third or subsequent offenses.
The ordinance was proposed by Councilor James J. Ferrera III after police reported seeing gang members in the spring try to recruit children at a city middle school.
"It's certainly not the end-all-be-all solution," said Councilor Bruce W. Stebbins of the ordinance. "Hopefully, it's another tool that the Police Department can use."
Sarno, the mayor, said the city is also making strides to improve the lives of city residents, thereby reduce the need for them to turn to gangs and crime.
Springfield officials are working to attract good-paying jobs to the city, he said, noting that F.W. Webb, a heating and plumbing distribution company, plans to set up shop in the city's industrial park, eventually adding 40-50 jobs to the city's employment base.
Berkshire Bank recently opened a branch on East Columbus Avenue, and a couple of new restaurants began serving food in downtown this year, he said.
The city's unemployment rate is now 12.8 percent, with 8,435 residents out of work in September, according to the most recent information from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Meanwhile, the state has a 9.3 percent unadjusted unemployment rate.
Officials are also seeking to draw events to the city at Springfield's MassMutual Center and Symphony Hall to improve revenues. The city aggressively promotes the first-time homebuyers initiative, which provides support for people seeking to enter the real estate market, Sarno said.
Springfield is also working to clean up neighborhood blight, which attracts crime, through "Operation Clean Sweep." The city has been awarded $3.5 million in state grants to obtain derelict homes, renovate them for the public- getting the properties back on the tax rolls- or tearing them down. Sarno said he is applying for almost $30 million more in grant funding to expand the initiative.
"Ninety-nine percent of the people here are great people from all different creeds, colors and backgrounds living in strong, good neighborhoods. These (violent crimes) are isolated incidents in small pockets of the community," Sarno said.
