Grand jury indicts 3 in October shooting of infant in Holyoke
Published: 12-20-2023 3:57 PM |
SPRINGFIELD — A Hampden County grand jury has indicted three Holyoke men on murder charges in the Oct. 4 shooting death of an infant, the Hampden district attorney’s office has announced.
The charges against Alejandro Ramos, John Luis Sanchez and Kermith Alvarez will now move to Hampden Superior Court where the case will be tried.
Additionally, Jose Galarza and Jay Marie Rosado-Rosario have been indicted on charges of being accessories after the fact for their alleged efforts in assisting Alvarez evade capture for a month after the shooting.
Ramos, 22, Sanchez, 30, and Alvarez, 28, were previously arraigned on murder charges in Holyoke District Court. All are being held without the right to bail.
Holyoke police say the three were involved in an altercation that turned into a shooting on the corner of Sargeant and Maple streets at lunchtime on Oct. 4. One of the rounds fired hit a public bus passing through the area and a woman on board the bus.
The woman, who was eight months pregnant, was taken to a hospital in critical condition. She was discharged from the hospital later in the month, but her infant did not survive.
In response to the downtown shooting, Mayor Joshua Garcia called for $1 million in new spending to hire 13 additional police officers, boost police enforcement, foot and bike patrols and install a citywide surveillance camera system.
Garcia dubbed the initiative “Ezekiel’s Plan/Operation Safe Streets” in honor of the infant.
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Holyoke residents Rosado-Rosario, 29, and Galarza, 31, were arraigned Oct. 16 on a charge of accessory after the fact. Bail was set at $5,000 for Rosado-Rosario and $25,000 for Galarza.
This incident remains under investigation by the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Hampden District Attorney’s Office and the Holyoke Police Department.