CHICOPEE – A man who gave Chicopee police an address on Sackett Street in Westfield was arraigned yesterday on several charges including home invasion and four charges of assault with intent to murder while armed with a firearm.
Chicopee police report that officers responded to a report of a shooting on Madison Street at about 11:30 p.m. Monday.
Officer Jeanne M. Nowak reports that she was waved down by a person on the porch at 103 Madison Street who was yelling about being shot and said that the suspect, a muscular black man armed with a gun, had fled.
Several officers also responded to Madison Street and report that neighbors standing on their porches were pointing toward a nearby house where Officer Michael Gendron found and confronted a suspect matching the victim’s description.
Det. Capt. Daniel Sullivan reports that, since gunshots had been reported, Gendron confronted the man with his service weapon drawn and, as he attempted to take control of the suspect, the man grabbed his gun and a struggle ensued.
Gendron was soon joined by fellow officer Edward Hitchcock who reports that he observed the barrel of the gun pointing in the direction additional officers were coming from and yelled out to caution the officers moments before the weapon discharged.
Hitchcock reports that although “several officers were attempting to gain control of the firearm”, the suspect retained possession of the gun and “the escalation of violence had reached the point where I felt necessary to use deadly force” but reports he was “not able to obtain a clear line of fire.”
Moments later, Officer Michael Thomas reports that he had been trying to force the suspect’s wrists and the gun he was holding to the ground when it discharged, was able to grab the top of the automatic pistol and racked the slide to the rear of the weapon, preventing it from chambering another round.
Meanwhile, Hitchcock reports he “began to deliver distractionary strikes” to the suspect’s midsection and, after officers were able to secure the officer’s pistol, they continued the struggle to secure the man’s hands as he was believed to have had his own weapon.
The suspect, later identified as William T. Wright, 34, of 22 Sackett St., Westfield, was subdued and taken into custody.
Two officers were found to have suffered minor injuries in the melee but none were struck by the bullet fired.
Nowak reports that two residents of the house Wright had fled from were found to have been shot and were bleeding heavily. Two ambulances were summoned.
She reports that one of the men, Corey Bergeron, 43, of 103 Madison Street, told him that he had encountered Wright as he went out to walk his dog.
He told Nowak that he came upon the man coming up his cellar stairs as he went out his back door and the man forced him back inside at gunpoint.
There, Bergeron said, he awakened his son, Nicholas, 20.
Nicholas Bergeron wrote in a statement for police that Wright was wearing a mask “like a Halloween mask” and “was yelling that he wanted money.”
The younger Bergeron reports that the man brought him to his bedroom where Bergeron took “$700 or $800” from his jacket and gave it to Wright who also grabbed jewelry from his dresser before he fled.
Bergeron wrote that “My father and I caught up to the guy on the front porch.”
He reports that he and his father tackled the man who still had his gun out and started shooting.
Bergeron wrote that during the struggle the man’s mask was pulled off and he got a good look at the suspect’s face.
Corey Bergeron was shot in his chest and his son was shot in his buttocks.
Both were transported to Baystate Medical Center where both were treated and released.
Wright was arraigned yesterday in Chicopee District Court on charges of home invasion, assault with intent to murder, four charges of assault with intent to murder while armed with a firearm, three charges of discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, use of a firearm in the execution of a felony, possession of a firearm without a FID card, resisting arrest, carrying a dangerous weapon and larceny of a firearm.
He was held without right to bail pending a dangerousness hearing Feb 26.
Although Wright appears to have been living at Sackett Street recently, he does not appear to be a native son.
The only time Wright is found in Westfield police records was as the operator of a vehicle involved in a 2001 accident and his address listed then was in Springfield.
However, a court document shows that Wright has been previously charged with dozens of offenses starting as a juvenile with charges such as assault and battery, breaking and entering and carrying a dangerous weapon.
As an adult, Wright was charged many times with possession of a firearm without a permit, as well as charges such as larceny, unarmed robbery, breaking and entering and assault and battery.
However, that document shows him to be a resident of a Byers Street address in Springfield.
