A Massachusetts State Police trooper, right, carries a shotgun as a State Police K-9 officer uses a specially trained dog to track the scent of the gunman who shot and robbed a man near Westfield Auto Parts near Mechanic Street in Westfield last night. The suspect was reported to be about 5 foot 11 inches, Hispanic, and dressed in all black. The shooting was reported at 9:20 p.m. (Photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – City and state police are searching for a man who shot and wounded another man in the downtown section of the city Friday evening.
Officer John Blascak said Friday that police were searching for a Hispanic male dressed in dark clothing who is believed to have shot another man on Chapel Street near the intersection of Mechanic Street in an incident reported at 9:29 p.m.
Blascak said that the victim was wounded in his thigh but said “all we know is that the victim was transported to Baystate (Medical Center).”
He said that no information about the events that led up to the shooting is known as the investigation is still in its early stages.
Comments overheard on police radio transmissions suggest that the incident began as an armed robbery and the subject is a Hispanic man about five feet eleven inches tall who is armed with a .38 caliber silver colored hand gun.
State troopers, including at least one K-9 team, assisted in the search and searching officers were seen with weapons in their hands.
