The announcement follows an initial meeting Mayor Sarno had with State Representative Carlos Gonzalez, Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, City Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce, Chair of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, Bishop Talbert Swann II, President of the Greater Springfield NAACP, and Brother Johnnie Muhammad from the Mission Inc., to discuss supporting, enhancing and expanding the various successful intervention, preventative, and proactive outreach programs and initiatives in the community that help address the root causes of some criminal activities before they become violent, including establishing safe places within the community at strategic locations, including community centers and churches, where individuals and families can go for help and assistance. Working with community partners and stakeholders, key and vital information and social services for programs will be shared with these key community institutions so that they can distributed and shared within their community.
Mayor Sarno states, “I want to thank those community and religious leaders for reaching out and meeting with me to continue our discussions on our collaborative efforts towards a plan of action to enhance and expand our preventative and intervention measures and initiatives within the community to curb this uptick of violent criminal activity. We had a very productive meeting and all agreed that it is important that we bring our community partners together and marshal all of our resources to end this streak of violence and address the root causes for this violence. Together, we are committed to ending this recent uptick of violence and supporting our public safety efforts. Our successful and recognized community partners, including Bishop Talbert Swan and the NAACP, Solomon Bayman and ROCA, and Brother Johnnie Muhammad from the Mission, Inc., all of whom my administration has worked closely with by supporting and funding their community outreach efforts, will continue to be our ‘boots on the ground’. This group has agreed to continue to meet to expand and include additional community stakeholders, partners and clergy in future meetings, as we have done previously. It is important that we get together to share information and resources on outreach and intervention programs and initiatives, which they can bring back to their respective agencies and organizations and share within the community.”
Additionally, the Text-A-Tip program is a very successful tool for reporting crime anonymously.
Text-A-Tip
- Text the word ‘SOLVE’ and the information you wish to share to ‘CRIMES (2-7-4-6-3-7)’
- Texte la palabra ‘SOLVE’ con su mensaje al numero ‘2-7-4-6-3-7’
State Representative Carlos Gonzalez and City Councilor Lavar Click-Bruce both spoke about working together with the community, clergy, and all local, state and federal partners to support and share information and resources on the various programs and initiatives that are available that can provide much-needed assistance for individuals and families, to help put an end to this uptick of violence. The group agreed that this is not just a local community issue but a national one that will require a multipronged approach, including the increased police presence on the streets, implementation of technology to suppress criminal activity, outreach initiatives from community stakeholders and partners with resources, and working to change some of the laws to focus on the 1-2% of these violent repeat criminal offenders.
Speaking on the increase police presence and suppression aspects, Police Superintendent Clapprood and Mayor Sarno reported that on Wednesday June 28th at approximately 12:55 pm members of the Springfield Police Homicide Unit under the direction of Captain Trent Duda along with members of the Springfield Police Firearms Investigation Unit, Massachusetts State Police VFAS, Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Marshal’s Task Force arrested 38-year-old Hiram Martinez near the intersection of Temple and School Street in connection with Saturday’s double-shooting and homicide on School Street.
On Saturday, June 24, around 9:20 pm, Springfield Police Officers responded to a ShotSpotter activation and located two gunshot victims in front of 38 School Street. Both victims were transported to Baystate. One victim, 34-year-old James Brown of Springfield, succumbed to his injuries that evening. The second victim, an adult male, was suffering from non-life-threatening injuries, was treated and released from the hospital.
The Springfield Police Homicide Unit began investigating and identified Martinez as a suspect. On Wednesday, June 28, Homicide Detectives applied for and were granted a warrant for Martinez’ arrest.
“Our Homicide Unit led by Captain Duda continues to excel with these difficult investigations often times without witness cooperation or witnesses at all. Just yesterday Karl Extanus was sentenced to life in prison for the 2019 murder of Alexis Martinez based on our Homicide Unit’s investigation and prosecution from the District Attorney’s Office. Now today another violent repeat felon is off the street thanks to our dedicated Homicide Unit.”
At the time of this arrest Martinez was out on bail for firearms and rape charges out of Chicopee. While out on bail Springfield Police Officers arrested Martinez twice and he was subsequently released. Martinez also has a prior conviction for cocaine trafficking.
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno states, “Tremendous work by our brave and dedicated Springfield Police Officers, our Homicide Unit under Captain Trent Duda, and all of our public safety officials and organizations for their efforts on bringing some justice on this unfortunate loss of life by arresting this suspect. This individual should have never been out on our streets and in our neighborhoods, especially when considering their previous firearms and rape charges, including being arrested twice while out on bail and yet the courts released him again. This individual is the poster child of a repeat violent criminal offender who should not have been released. Now, because of the courts and some judges’ leniency, a life was cut short and a family grieving. This sad and tragic event could have been avoided if the courts and some judges just did their job and hold and incarcerate these repeat violent criminal offenders.”
“Again, I will never stop fighting for my residents and business community and will continue my plea to the state to act and pass my bail reform legislation which was filed by State Representative Angelo Puppolo and cosponsored by Representatives Bud Williams, Brian Ashe and Michael Finn,” Mayor Sarno added.
At the time of this arrest, Martinez was out on bail for firearms and rape charges out of Chicopee. While out on bail Springfield Police Officers arrested Martinez twice and he was subsequently released. Martinez also has a prior conviction for cocaine trafficking.
On Wednesday officers seized more than 40 grams of crack-cocaine and 50 bags of heroin from Martinez.
This investigation was led by the Springfield Police Homicide Unit in conjunction with the Hampden District Attorney’s Murder Unit.
38-year-old Hiram Martinez of Springfield is charged with:
- Arrest Warrant
- Murder
- Assault & Battery with a Firearm
- Carrying a Loaded Firearm without a License
- Discharging a Firearm with 500 feet of a Building - Cocaine Trafficking 36-100 Grams
- Possession with the Intent to Distribute a Class A Drug
