At least three bullet holes can be seen in the glass door at 25 Forbes Court after several shots were fired at Greenfield Gardens on Monday afternoon. Sgt. Gary Darling, a detective with the Massachusetts State Police, talks on a cellphone in the foreground. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI
Caution tape cordons off 25 Forbes Court in Greenfield Gardens after several shots were fired into the door Monday afternoon. No one was home at the time of the shooting. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI
Detective Justin Purinton, of the Greenfield Police Department, uses caution tape to cordon off a section of Greenfield Gardens after several shots were fired into the door at 25 Forbes Court on Monday afternoon. No one was home at the time. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI
Left to right, Greenfield Police Officer Marcus Johansson and Massachusetts State Police Detective Sgt. Gary Darling observe as Trooper Luis Martinez, with the State Police’s Crime Scene Services Section, photographs a shell casing on the ground at Greenfield Gardens on Monday afternoon. Several shots were fired into the front door at 25 Forbes Court. No one was home at the time. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI
A crime scene evidence marker next to a shell casing at Greenfield Gardens on Monday afternoon. Several shots were fired into the front door of 25 Forbes Court. No one was home at the time. STAFF PHOTO/DOMENIC POLI
GREENFIELD — Police are on the lookout for a man they say fired at least 12 rounds into the front door of a Greenfield Gardens apartment on Monday afternoon before fleeing in a black Honda Accord with New York license plates.
According to the Greenfield Police Department, a man approached the front door of a residence on Forbes Court at approximately 1:15 p.m. and began aggressively knocking and yelling into the residence. After receiving no response, the man allegedly fired at least four shots — from what is believed to be a 9 mm pistol — into the front door.
One of the shots penetrated the front door, went through the residence and through the back door, exiting into the yard behind the apartment. According to police, no one was home at the time.
The man then reportedly walked back to the vehicle, a black Honda Accord, and fired at least eight more rounds into the residence, according to police. The gunman then fled the scene in the vehicle.
Greenfield Police Officers Jason Kratz and Marcus Johansson, after receiving a radio transmission from a dispatcher who relayed the fleeing vehicle’s description, observed it traveling at a high rate of speed southbound on Elm Street and then westbound onto the Mohawk Trail before they lost sight of it.
According to police, Detective Justin Purinton, who was on a road detail on River Street, observed the vehicle pass by him at a high rate of speed. All four officers on duty were dispatched to assist but could not locate the vehicle before it left Greenfield.
Deerfield Police Chief John Paciorek Jr. observed the vehicle in Deerfield and pursued it for a short period before losing sight of it on the rural town’s back roads. Lt. Mitchell Kuc, public information officer for the Hadley Police Department, said one his town’s Public Works employees heard a radio transmission about the incident and then saw the black Honda zip by him, but the vehicle was nowhere to be seen when officers arrived at the location where the employee had spotted it.
Bulletins were issued to all county departments, as well as the Massachusetts State Police, and the fleeing vehicle is believed to have last been seen on Bay Road in Amherst, according to police. The suspect’s identity is being withheld at this time.
The State Police Detective Unit, as well as the State Police Crime Scene Services Section and ballistics units, was called to Forbes Court to assist in the investigation. According to police, the incident is the third shooting in Greenfield since mid-June, not including several other calls where firearms were located and taken into custody for being illegally possessed.
The woman who was reportedly the suspect’s intended target said she is relieved no one was hurt. She asked not to be identified due to concerns for her safety.
Her neighbor and friend, who also requested not to be identified due to safety concerns, said she heard the initial gunfire, looked out a second-floor window and saw the suspect fire more shots into the door. She said she ran barefoot to her friend’s locked front door, sustaining cuts to her feet, to check on her. She then called her friend at work to tell her what had happened.
Neighbor Jeremy Williams said he and his family were inside playing cards when they heard the gunshots.
“I thought they were fireworks, but they seemed kind of loud,” Williams said, adding that he and his wife, Tina, went to the window to investigate. “The guy was standing … by his car, fired right into the door.
“To actually see it was more intense than just … hearing it,” Williams added. His wife called 911.
Greenfield Police Lt. Todd Dodge said he was relieved no one was injured.
“That’s the biggest thing,” he said. “But, unfortunately, these incidents are occurring all too frequently now. … In the last month, we’ve recovered guns on probably six different occasions. We recovered a gun from a motor vehicle stop last night. So it seems like guns are everywhere in Greenfield all of a sudden, and that’s scary.”
Reach Domenic Poli at dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.
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