After fleeing on a bus to Arizona, two brothers were arrested Tuesday and charged in the Oct. 15 shooting death of Jose M. “Joselito” Rodriguez, the Northwestern district attorney’s office said Wednesday.
Soknang Chham, 33, and Soksot Chham, 35, both of New Salem, were taken into custody near Flagstaff by the U.S. Marshals Service.
Soknang was arrested on a warrant charging him with murder and armed assault with intent to murder, according to the DA’s office, and Soksot was charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder.
The Chham brothers will appear in an Arizona court, where they could decide to challenge their extradition back to Massachusetts, according to the DA’s office.
The shooting at Southpoint Apartments in Amherst left Rodriguez, the 31-year-old father of three young children, dead from multiple gunshot wounds. Another male, whom officials have not identified, received life-threatening gunshot wounds but was treated and released at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester, the DA’s office said.
Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive for the shootings, and the incident remains under investigation.
In April 2003, Soknang Chham and Rodriguez, who both gave addresses as The Boulders apartments, 188 East Hadley Road, were arrested at the same time in Amherst on charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after Northampton police reported a fight in which a handgun had been displayed. Only a plastic handgun was found in their vehicles, though, according to a Gazette story at the time.
A decade later, both Chham brothers were arrested by Lowell Police after allegedly being involved in the pistol-whipping of a man in his Lowell apartment in March 2010, with Soknang forcing him outside by putting a gun to his temple, according to the Lowell Sun. Once outside, the brothers and several friends allegedly began to beat, kick and pistol-whip the victim, prosecutor Cara Krysil said during the arraignment in Lowell Superior Court.
Krysil called the 2010 incident a “vicious beating.” Responding officers drew their weapons and stopped the fight. After one suspect made suspicious movements, an officer searched him and found a .32-caliber handgun
Police seized the handgun as well as a sawed-off, double-barreled shotgun, according to the Lowell newspaper report.
A memorial service for Rodriguez that drew a crowd of more than 200 people was held Tuesday in Hadley.
“We are very happy that justice is going to come,” Jose’s sister, Zuly Rodriguez, 36, said when reached by phone Wednesday evening. “The sad part is that we knew them … they were friends.”
Zuly added that her family has known the Chham brothers for more than two decades, having grown up with them.
“It’s tough for (the Chham) family, too … because their family knew my brother,” Zuly said.
Authorities have not released details about the shooting or any suspected motive.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.
