A gun went off twice inside a Best Western hotel room on Riverdale Street in West Springfield early Saturday morning, tearing through the room and into a neighboring one before the people inside sped away, according to police. No one was hurt, but officers are still trying to piece together exactly what happened and who was involved.
West Springfield police were called to the Best Western at 429 Riverdale Street at about 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 31 after someone reported shots fired inside one of the hotel's rooms, according to MassLive. Investigators determined that a firearm had been negligently discharged twice inside the room, leaving behind two spent 5.56-caliber shell casings.
Damage Spread to a Neighboring Room
The gunfire caused damage to the room where it happened and minor damage to a room next door, the outlet reported. By the time officers arrived, the people who had been staying in the room were already gone. Police said a group fled the hotel in a gray Hyundai immediately after the shots were fired, and that vehicle was later found abandoned across the city line in Springfield.
No injuries were reported in connection with the incident, and as of Monday, the investigation remained ongoing. The report does not say who was staying in the room, whether anyone has been identified as a suspect, or what prompted the gun to go off.
Not West Springfield's Only Recent Gunfire Scare
The Best Western incident comes about a month after West Springfield police dealt with another negligent-discharge case tied to the Big E. In that September episode, officers working near Gate 8 reported hearing what sounded like a gunshot on Memorial Avenue around 7:45 p.m. on a Tuesday, the same outlet reported. Police said they found two men near a vehicle in a private lot behind a business at 875 Memorial Avenue, along with a spent shell casing and a 9-mm Taurus handgun.
Police said a man, identified as Jason Smallwood-Chevalier, was accused of accessing the handgun from the vehicle's center console and negligently firing it. He faced three firearm-related charges, and police said they were also seeking to charge the weapon's owner with improper storage of a firearm. No one was injured in that incident, and officials said it did not disrupt fair operations at the Big E.
Massachusetts law generally restricts discharging a firearm near occupied buildings. Under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 269, Section 12E, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling or other building in use carries a fine of $50 to $100 or imprisonment in a jail, though it is not established whether that provision applies to the West Springfield hotel case. West Springfield police have not released further details on the Riverdale Street investigation, and it remains unclear whether the people who fled in the gray Hyundai have been identified.
