Police probe Florence man's story about being shooting victim in Holyoke
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NORTHAMPTON - A 32-year-old Florence man with a bullet wound to his leg told police Tuesday that he was shot in Holyoke and drove himself to two medical facilities there before trying to make it to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, according to police.
Capt. Arthur Monfette, of the Holyoke Police Department's Criminal Investigation Bureau, said getting to the bottom of the case may prove difficult, as the victim, Brian Weston, 32, was not being cooperative with police.
Monfette said his detectives were on the way to Baystate Medical Center to interview Weston at about 10 a.m., when they saw him waving frantically for a bus outside the hospital.
The officers reported that Weston had checked himself out of the hospital "because he just wanted to go home," Monfette said.
Shooting victim found in Northampton: wwlp.com
Weston gave officers no concrete details about the shooting, although he did say he brought an unidentified girl in his Jeep to a tenement building somewhere near the city canals. Monfette said the area is a known drug hot spot.
While waiting outside his car, Weston told police, a 30-something Hispanic man with a tattoo on his cheek approached him and asked him "what he needed." Northampton police added that Weston also couldn't give them a precise location of the shooting, and provided a vague description of his assailant: a man with long black hair and scratch marks on his face.
Weston allegedly told the shooter, "I'm good," according to Monfette, at which point the assailant pulled a gun and demanded money.
"He tried to make a run for it, and that's when he got shot," Monfette said.
Holyoke police said Weston told police that he tried to get medical attention at the Providence Behavioral Health and Holyoke hospitals - Providence no longer offers emergency room treatment and Weston said Holyoke Hospital "was locked" and would not help him.
Monfette noted that Holyoke Hospital is always open: "It's a 24-hour emergency facility there."
Weston said he drove himself to the Shell Station at 506 Pleasant St. at about 5 a.m. to get help.
Manager Maggie Costa was on duty at the gas station and convenience store when she saw Weston, waving frantically, by the gas pumps.
She said she thought at first that he might have some serious problem with his car, but quickly learned otherwise.
"I asked him if anything was wrong, and he said he had just been shot," said Costa, who called police immediately. "Then he came in and bought a pack of cigarettes. ... American Spirits, blue label, regulars."
Costa said she didn't see a wound on the man's leg, but he did have blood on his shirt.
Northampton police Capt. Scott Savino confirmed Tuesday that Weston had a gunshot wound to his lower right thigh.
Costa also said Weston was agitated, talkative and moving rapidly inside and outside the store.
"He was really jacked up, over the top," she said.
After the call came in from Northampton, Holyoke police Lt. Michael Higgins said Holyoke officers responded to investigate and retrieve Weston's Jeep as part of their probe.
Weston was taken to Cooley Dickinson, and ultimately transferred to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he later checked himself out.
"I don't think he's telling us the truth," said Monfette. "He says he was shot in Holyoke and doesn't know why, and he doesn't know where."
At this point in the case, Monfette said the department needs the public's help in identifying the shooter. If anyone has any information about the case, they are asked to call the Holyoke police at 536-6431.
Staff writer James F. Lowe contributed to this story.
