A state police trooper was shot and his suspected shooter is dead after an early morning shoot-out and standoff in Chicopee that saw a quiet neighborhood riddled with gunfire. Watch video

CHICOPEE — A state police trooper was shot and his suspected shooter is dead after an early morning shoot-out and standoff on West Street that saw a quiet neighborhood riddled with gunfire.

By the time it was over, officials and bystanders expressed gratitude that the incident, as bad as it was, was not a good deal worse.

“But for the grace of God, the outcome could have been much worse,” said state police communications director David A. Procopio.

Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette said he was grateful that none of the bystanders in the area, children walking to school or patrons at a nearby convenience store were injured in the cross fire, and that the woman and her son who were inside the apartment at 102 West St. where the shooter took refuge escaped unharmed.

It could have been “a disaster of major proportions,” he said, and “just short of Armageddon.”

Neighborhood residents spoke afterward of bullets whizzing over their heads, or ducking for cover behind their cars, and being close enough to the police to see the muzzle flashes from their guns as they returned fire.

“It was like Iraq,” said resident Joseph Kaczynski, who unknowingly walked into a gun battle on his way back home from the store.

“It was pretty crazy. I am pretty scared and I’m lucky to be alive,” he said.

Also lucky is trooper John Vasquez, 44, a 20-year veteran assigned to the Springfield barracks, who was shot in the lower left leg and right hand and struck with some shrapnel in the right leg. After surgery Friday afternoon, Vasquez was in good condition at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Procopio said.

The suspected shooter, Carlos Laguer, age 41, of Springfield, was found dead of multiple gunshots after a state police tactical team entered the first floor apartment at 102 West St.

Procopio said investigators are trying to determine how Laguer died. It is not clear Friday night if Laguer died in the exchange of gunfire with police or if he took his own life. Procopio said it is also possible death was a result of a combination of police fire and self-inflicted wounds.

Procopio said it is not yet clear how the incident began, and it may have originated with a case of domestic violence.

Procopio said it appears Laguer had a connection to the woman and the boy who live in the apartment where he was firing. He declined to elaborate on the connection or to give their names.

Bissonnette, in an interview Friday night with WWLP TV22, said the woman and her son had recently moved to the apartment, and that she had obtained a restraining order against Laguer.

But neighbors told The Republican that Laguar had been around the neighborhood since moving in about three months. He stood out because he drove a pink Lexus sedan, and would frequently sit on the front steps, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer, they said.

Bissonnette said Laguer appeared at the apartment building early Friday and asked the landlord to be let inside the woman’s apartment. When the landlord refused, Laguer is said to have kicked in the door and confronted the woman, Bissonnette said.

Police were called at about 7:45 a.m. for a report of gun shots.

Vasquez was first on the scene and Laguer immediately opened fire from the apartment, police said. The trooper was hit, and other police returned fire.

Police immediately blocked off West Street, portions of Center Street, and shut down the exit to Interstate 391.

Dozens of police stationed themselves outside the apartment, while a state police tactical team responded.

The standoff ended a little more than two hours after it began when members of the tactical team stormed the apartment and found Laguer dead inside.

With him were a handgun and an assault rifle, police said.

West Street remained closed throughout the day as state and Chicopee police collected ballistic, forensic, and physical evidence from the scene.

Detectives were also processing evidence from the state police and Chicopee cruisers that were each struck multiple times by gunfire.

The investigation is being handled by state police detectives assigned to the office of Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni.

In the hours after the shooting, officials and residents reflected on the outbreak of violence, the heroism displayed by those involved and the potential for even greater tragedy.

Bissonnette, at a press briefing afterward, noted how the Chicopee shooting occurred less than a day after one police officer was killed and four others were injured during a shoot-out in Greenland, N.H., on Thursday.

Both incidents were mentioned Friday afternoon during the pre-game ceremonies at Fenway Park, when the crowd was asked to observe a moment of silence.

Bissonnette cited two people with special recognition for their actions during the shooting: Chicopee police officer David Benoit and school crossing guard Deborah Paquette.

Benoit loaded Vasquez into his cruiser while under fire and drove him to the hospital.

Paquette was stationed as the crossing guard at Center, Hampden and West streets when the shooting began. She warned two students to get away and alerted nearby Bowe School, which went into lock down mode.

Paquette said she was incorrectly credited with getting a school bus driver, student and monitor safely off a special needs bus. The credit goes to police, she said. The bus ended up next to the trooper’s bullet-riddled cruiser.

Another bystander, Ward Hamilton, had just started work at Central Oil nearby when he heard about the shooting. Hamilton, of Enfield, a former New Haven, Conn., police officer, said he went into “cop mode,” running towards the sound of gunshots.

When he arrived on West Street, he spotted the injured Vasquez on the ground. He helped Benoit and a trooper load Vasquez into a cruiser as bullets whizzed by.

Vasquez’s car “was just strafed by bullets,” he said. The scene, he said, was “right out of Hollywood.” He said he could tell Vasquez had been hit in the legs and in the hand.

“We kept telling him he’s OK, he’s OK,” Hamilton said. “He hadn’t lost any color in his face and that is usually a good indicator, he was alert and focused. He was able to talk and that for me was a relief.”

Meanwhile, he could see the shooter barricaded behind an open door and shooting.

He described him as an older man with long silver hair.

“He had the front door propped open ... it was OK Corral time.”

As he spoke, his hands were still crimson colored from Vasquez’s blood.

After Vasquez was taken to the hospital Hamilton took cover. As he did, he could see people sitting in their cars in the parking lot of a nearby Dunkin Donuts, talking on their cell phones and unaware of what was happening.

“One woman was just talking away. I banged on the car, I said ‘Listen, get out! get out!’ She got out her passenger side door,” he said.

Kaczynski was walking home from the CVS store where he had just purchased a couple of bottles of soda Friday morning. When he got near 102 West St., he saw a man run out the front door yelling, “Get away from me! Get away from me!” he said.

“The next thing I know I heard gunshots out the window shooting at the guy. I was walking by at the same time and the bullets were flying over my head,” Kaczynski said.

Kaczynski said he was still on scene when Vasquez was shot, and watched as he fell.

“I saw him take the bullet and go down.”

Laura Goodroe, another neighborhood resident, said she was taking her little girl to school down West Street when she stopped her car because she saw several police cars in the street.

“The next thing I know they are hiding in back of their cars, and they are shooting 5 feet away from my car, the bullets were coming from the building, going back and forth,” Goodroe said.

She said she was so close that she could see the muzzle flash from the officers’ guns.

“I just had to get out of there, I had my daughter in the car,” Goodroe said. She turned around and headed back down West Street alerting people on the sidewalk as she drove.

“I was screaming at people walking up the street, telling them that it’s a shoot-out and it’s bad.”

Both Kaczynski and Goodroe estimated they heard up to 200 gunshots, although police did not disclose the number fired.

Another neighbor, Brian Newton, was home when his 8-year-old son, Joe, who had set out for Bowe Elementary came back home because police told him to go home.

He said the boy told his father he thought there had been a car accident, and Newton, who has experience as an EMT, went to offer help.

Newton said he got about halfway up the street when he heard five shots.

“It was like ‘pop, pop, pop, pop, pop,’” he said.

“That’s when I saw cops break off and take cover and I heard one cop say ‘Where the (expletive) is he shooting from?’ Then I took cover.”

Newton said he took cover in the doorway of an apartment building and heard nothing for several minutes.

“And then there was maybe another series of eight shoots, and then there was a lot of confusion and then there was nothing but a lot of cops showing up,” Newton said.

Anatoliy Ionkia, whose brother lives in the neighborhood, said he used to muse aloud to his wife as they drove by the pink Lexus, speculating on what kind of person might drive such car.

Ionkia said his wife said, “Well, I wouldn’t mess with him.”

Staff reporters Jack Flynn, George Graham and Ted LaBorde and Assistant Online Editor Greg Saulmon reported from the scene for this article.

More than 100 rounds were discharged between the suspect and police on a busy Friday morning. Mayor Bissonnette said he is thankful because the scene could have been much, much worse. Watch video

CHICOPEE – A day after a shoot-out and standoff that featured more than 100 rounds of gunfire on West Street that left a state trooper wounded and the suspect dead, residents and witnesses were still in shock.

Donna Dube, the owner of the three-family home at 102 West St. where the incident took place, was not home at the time, but her husband was, and he nearly lost his life.

The first floor apartment, where the shoot-out took place, is riddled with bullet holes. Broken glass covers the steps. Markers where shell casings were found litter the sidewalk.

She said the suspected shooter, Carlos Laguer, age 41, of Springfield, demanded to be let inside the building on Friday morning, but her husband refused. She said Laguer pointed a gun to her husband’s chest and said, “Well that’s too bad.”

She said he pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't go off.

Laguer, according to state police, had a connection to the woman and young boy who lived in the first floor apartment.

After Dube’s husband refused to let Laguer inside, he apparently kicked in the door and confronted the woman. Dube said the woman ran out of the apartment and he “started spraying bullets.” Dube said the woman hadn’t seen Laguer in a year - until this happened.

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said on Saturday that the woman and her son had recently moved into the first floor apartment, and that she had obtained a restraining order against Laguer. Bissonnette said that the restraining order was from Springfield District Court, and until court reopens Tuesday, he will not be able to see the contents of the order. Bissonnette said he was particularly concerned how the shooter had weapons.

“I was at the scene this morning. You can see the evidence of how much damage there is to the apartment,” Bissonnette said.

Bissonnette said Laguer was firing an AK-47 assault rifle.

“How did he get his hands on an AK-47 and a handgun?” Bissonnette said.

More than 100 rounds were discharged between the suspect and police on a busy Friday morning. Bissonnette said he is thankful because the scene could have been much, much worse.

For example, a gas tanker was parked at the gas station, and there is an oil company next door to the gas station.

“We were pretty close to a real traumatic event in downtown Chicopee as you could possibly have,” Bissonnette said. “I’m still in shock no one else was shot.”

“At a quarter of 8, we have little kids walking to school, lots of commuters. It’s just horrific to know all the activity that was going on while this guy is just letting loose with a fusillade of automatic weapon fire,” Bissonnette said.

Bissonnette said he heard “conflicting stories” about Laguer’s involvement with the apartment before the shooting and whether he was actually the owner of a pink Lexus mentioned earlier by neighbors.

“The best news of the day is that everybody got home safe,” Bissonnette said, adding he also is thankful Trooper John Vasquez is OK. Vasquez, 44, a 20-year veteran assigned to the Springfield barracks, has undergone surgery at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. He suffered gunshot wounds to his lower left leg and his right hand, and took shrapnel to his right leg. He was in good condition on Friday.

Bissonnette said Vasquez’s cruiser’s back window was blown out from gunfire and there were bullets in the headrest.

It was the boy who emerged from the apartment and told police that Laguer had shot himself in the chest, Bissonnette said.

However, state police said investigators are still trying to determine how Laguer died - if he killed himself, or was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police. State police communications director David A. Procopio said it’s also possible that the death was due to a combination of police fire and self-inflicted wounds. He was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds.

State Trooper Sean Lewis said he does not expect any additional information about the incident to be released this weekend, adding it is still an active investigation.

At Dunkin’ Donuts, which shares space with the Shell station across the street, workers recounted the terrifying morning.

“It was crazy,” Dunkin’ Donuts employee Edrike Roman, 20, said.

He said it was 8 a.m., there was a line in the drive-through, and they heard three loud bangs. At first, they didn’t know where it was coming from, but one of the customers pointed across the street.

“He was right in the doorway, just pointing the gun right outside. He was just shooting at the floor and at random people walking by,” Roman said.

“Everyone was terrified. Everyone was on the ground, crying and screaming for their life,” Roman said.

Roman said he could see the weapon - a black assault rifle with a long scope. He said he called his mother to come get him. When they were on the phone, a bullet blasted through the window of the store and hit the ceiling.

Dunkin’ Donuts manager Shanelle M. Trepanier said she was at a loss for words to even describe what happened.

“It was terrifying,” Trepanier said.

Trepanier said when she saw the man shooting, she said, “All right, this guy’s not kidding.” She said she left and got a ride home with a customer. She said she just wanted to be with her children.

Keith Alessandroni, of Springfield, said he was concerned because his daughter and ex-wife live near West Street. He was with his daughter Saturday morning, and they were viewing the shooting scene from the Shell station parking lot.

“I don’t know where these people get their weapons. There’s got to be something done about gun control,” Alessandroni said.

School Superintendent Richard W. Rege said school officials on Friday identified four students who were directly affected by the shooting. Two of them lived in the house where the shooting took place. He said some of them were able to receive counseling that day, and parents also were notified about other counseling services, as it is now school vacation week.

During the standoff, a school bus was driving on West Street and the driver had to swerve to the side of the road, Rege said. In addition to the driver, a student and bus monitor were on the bus. They all got out safely, and were able to use the bus as a shield, Rege said.

Rege said another student was walking by the apartment at the time of the shooting.

“There was really no trauma to the general population,” Rege said. “If it were 15 minutes earlier . . . it could have been much more of a problem. We are very, very fortunate.”

Because the district has a breakfast program, many students arrive at school early to participate in it, Rege explained. Nearby Bowe School went into lockdown mode to protect the students.

The standoff began just before 8 a.m. and Vasquez was the first on scene. Laguer immediately opened fire from the apartment. Police immediately blocked off West Street, portions of Center Street, and shut down the exit to Interstate 391. The standoff ended a little more than two hours after it began when a state police tactical team stormed the apartment and found Laguer dead inside.

WWLP TV 22 spoke with the ex-wife of Laguer, Migdalia Rios, who said she wasn't sure why he would go on a shooting spree, but said he never recovered from the loss of their 16-year-old son, Jean Carlos Laguer, who was killed in a Holyoke shooting in 2010.

The building where School Department offices are currently located has structural problems.

File photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanThis is the former Chicopee Public Library at Market Square.

CHICOPEE – Interested in the possibility of moving offices into the former library on Market Square, the School Committee is asking for more information about the building and the proposal.

The committee recently voted 9-0 to discuss the re-use of the library and the future of a variety of other closed schools in a future subcommittee meeting.

“I personally think it is a great proposal,” said Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello, a committee member.

The School Department has been concerned about the condition of its offices at the Helen O’Connell Administration building at 180 Broadway for a number of years. Structural issues have forced it to clean everything out of the attic and eventually officials know the offices must be moved or the 100-year-old building has to be repaired.

There have been several proposals, including moving the administration to the Szetela Early Childhood School. That plan is part of a multi-school shifting to begin when the former Chicopee High School is converted to a middle school.

A second plan is to renovate the former library, and turn the current mezzanine into a full second floor to create enough space for the School Department. It would be connected to City Hall next door and an elevator would be added to improve handicap accessibility for both buildings.

Recently, Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, who is the School Committee chairman, asked the City Council to approve spending $160,000 from the sale of real estate account to remove asbestos and partly gut the former library so a structural engineer can examine the building to see if it could support the addition of a second floor.

The City Council has put that on hold until it can find out more about other spending priorities in the city.

The other concern is parking since there is no dedicated parking lot with the former library.

“Hopefully we can have some kind of information regarding parking. There are not a lot of parking spaces there,” said Marjorie A. Wojcik, vice chairwoman of the School Committee.

There should be enough space for the 60 or so employees who now work at the O’Connell building, she said.

The group should also discuss the condition of the O’Connell building and make plans if the move has to happen before the library can be examined or the renovation of Chicopee High School is finished, Committee member Michael J. Pise said.

The shooter, Carlos Laguer of Springfield, was killed during the stand-off with police.

State Trooper John Vasquez, who was injured in a Chicopee shoot-out Friday, has been released from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and is recovering at home with his wife and teenage son.

Vasquez, 44, was shot in the hand and in the lower left leg and had shrapnel wounds in his right leg during the two-hour siege on West Street in Chicopee.

Vasquez, a 20-year-veteran of the state police assigned to the Springfield barracks, was the first to respond to a 7:45 a.m. call for assistance. When he arrived, Carlos Laguer opened fire from an apartment at 102 West St., injuring the officer.

Chicopee Police Officer David Benoit was recognized for being able to load Vasquez into his cruiser while under fire and bring him to the hospital. He was assisted by Ward Hamilton, a former New Haven, Conn. police officer who just started work at Central Oil, which is near West Street. He assisted Benoit as Laguer continued to shoot at them.

Courtesy of Massachusetts State PoliceState Trooper John Vasquez, in this undated state police photo.

On Friday Vasquez underwent surgery for his wounds, said David Procopio, spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police.

Police returned fire. In total more than 70 shots were discharged on the small street.

Vazquez’s car was shot multiple times, the back window was shattered and there and there were bullets in the headrest.

Carlos Laguer, 41, of Springfield, was killed during the two-hour shoot-out. Police are continuing to investigate to see if he took his own life, was killed by bullets fired by police or a combination of the two.

A woman and her 8-year-old son were in the apartment when the shooting began. They were able to flee uninjured. Police have not released their names.

Preliminary autopsy results show the gunman, Carlos Laguer, likely committed suicide.

Republican staff photo by Don TreegerBullet holes and police tape numbering them can be seen in a window after a shooting in Chicopee Friday that left a state trooper injured.

CHICOPEE – The man who sprayed bullets over the city’s downtown Friday morning, shooting a police officer, houses and parked cars, is believed to have committed suicide to end the gun battle.

Preliminary autopsy results show Carlos Laguer, 41, likely shot and killed himself while holed up in the first-floor apartment at 102 West St. Friday morning, Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said.

“Based on the preliminary report, there is a strong likelihood the cause of death will be self-inflicted, but we will find he was struck by the return fire by officers,” he said.

The autopsy, which is not expected to be finalized until later this week at the earliest, is mostly based on the location of the wounds and type and size of bullets used, he said.

Police are continuing to try to piece together what caused the Springfield man to engage in a two-hour shoot-out with police.

“We are getting a clearer picture of what happened, and it will continue to be clarified over the next days and weeks,” Mastroianni said, adding more information is expected to be released this week.

The one known victim, State Trooper John Vasquez, was released from Baystate Medical Center in Springfield Sunday and is now home recuperating, said David Procopio, spokesman for the Massachusetts State Police.

Vasquez, a 20-year police veteran assigned to the Springfield barracks, was shot in the hand and the lower left leg. He also had shrapnel wounds in his right leg, Procopio said.

Vasquez, 44, was the first to respond to a 7:45 a.m. call for assistance. When he arrived, Laguer opened fire from the West Street apartment, police said.

The initial call to police is believed to have come from one of the owners of 102 West St., who was confronted by Laguer, who demanded to be allowed into the house so he could talk to one of the tenants.

Donna Dube, the owner of the three-family home at 102 West St., said her husband refused to let Laguer in the house. She said he pointed a gun at her husband and pulled the trigger but it didn’t go off.

After Dube’s husband refused to let Laguer inside, he apparently kicked in the door and confronted the tenant. Her 8-year-old son was inside the home as well.

Mastroianni did not confirm the scenario, but did say the initial call, which came in at about 7:45 a.m., was about a domestic disturbance.

“It was a pretty serious domestic type situation in the making. A gentleman intervened, and the police got there so quickly to prevent that,” he said.

The stand-off continued for about two hours in the busy street where children walk to school and people stop for coffee and gasoline at the store across from the apartment.

Between 70 and 100 bullets are believed to have been fired when Laguer and local and state police exchanged gunfire for about two hours.

“I don’t know the total shots fired yet. We are examining every officer’s gun to see how many shots were fired,” Mastroianni said.

Police are also using ballistics testing and have diagrammed the crime scene to determine where the shots were fired.

Investigators are trying to determine if anyone else received minor injuries from the shooting.

“We are continuing to talk to people and gather information. A number of bullets hit glass panes and cars and asphalt ... and fragments went in many different directions and anyone may have been hit by them,” he said.

The woman and her 8-year-old son who were in the apartment were eventually allowed to leave. Their names have not been released to give them some privacy while they cope with the aftermath of the shootings. She did have a restraining order against Laguer, but Mastroianni did not know the details of it.

“The emotional well-being of her and her child is a concern,” he said, adding the District Attorney’s victim witness unit is offering assistance, and Chicopee schools have also contacted the family to give counseling to the child.

With Laguer dead, the investigation will partly focus on the illegal guns and ammunition that he used.

Mastroianni would not release details on the weapons, but said Laguer had more than one gun and at least one “automatic-type weapon.”

“We want to look at the weapons involved that the deceased was using,” he said. “We are interested in trying to track these guns and find out where they came from.”

He is working with state police as well as federal agencies to try to find more information about the weapons.

Police are also looking into Laguer’s background more to try to find out what led to the shooting.

“You try to find out how this happened to try to prevent things like this, but I don’t know how you prevent an insane thing like this,” Mastroianni said.

The one thing that is known is Laguer was devastated over the September 2010 murder of his son Jean Carlos Laguer. The boy was 16 and a freshman at Holyoke High School when he was killed in an altercation at a party in Holyoke where he was trying to defend his older brother.

Mastroianni said he is examining the case as part of the long investigation into the shooting.

“It will take some time to finish what we need to do,” he said.

Officer Jeff Couture was attacked by a man who became angry when the officer attempted to help a woman leave a Murphy Lane residence, according to police.

Republican file photo

CHICOPEE – Chicopee Police Officer Jeffrey Couture sustained facial injuries after he was assaulted by a man at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Lt. Mark Gilbert told 22News.

Jay Dirico, 40, allegedly assaulted Couture when the officer was dispatched to 63 Murphy Lane to help a woman leave the residence. That's when Dirico began throwing punches that injured Couture enough to send the officer to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for treatment, according to Gilbert. Couture has since been released from the hospital.

Police did not indicate Dirico's relationship to the woman, nor did they provide a street address for the man.

Chicopee police told 22News that Dirico, who's being held on $2,500 bail, will face multiple charges including assault and battery and assault to murder when he's arraigned Tuesday in Chicopee District Court. State courts were closed Monday for the Patriots' Day holiday.

Joseph Fountain's press release can be found at our 'Campaign Dispatches' blog.

Joseph R. Fountain

SPRINGFIELD – Joseph Fountain, a candidate for state representative in the 9th Hampden District, has criticized Mayor Domenic J. Sarno for “not making tough decisions” on the budget.

In addition, Fountain has proposed a commuter tax in Springfield, and has proposed that Sarno ask every administrator in the School Department take a 10 percent cut in pay.

Click here to see Fountain’s full press release.

More press releases from candidates in the various 2012 races are available at our Campaign Dispatches blog.

DiRico (pictured) posted $2,500 cash for his release in connection with an alleged assault on Chicopee Police Officer Jeffrey Couture, who received 11 stitches to his head and continues to recover.

Republican file photoJay DiRico, pictured here in this 2011 Republican file photo, is a former golf club pro and Massachusetts Trial Court officer. He is charged with assault with intent to murder in connection with a Sunday afternoon assault on Chicopee Police Officer Jeffrey Couture, according to authorities.

Updates a story originally published at 6:35 a.m. Monday, April 16.

CHICOPEE – Jay T. DiRico, a local top golfer and former state court officer, will face attempted murder and other serious charges when he's arraigned Tuesday in connection with a weekend assault on a Chicopee police officer, according to authorities.

DiRico, 40, of Chicopee, is accused of attacking Officer Jeffrey Couture after the patrolman intervened in a Sunday afternoon dispute between DiRico and an unidentified woman at 63 Murphy Lane, a private residence off Burnett Road.

"He had (Couture) on the ground and kept punching him in the head," Chicopee Deputy Police Chief William R. Jebb said, adding that the officer was treated for serious facial injuries at Baystate Medical Center.

Couture initially responded to a keep-the-peace call at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Murphy Lane address, but things quickly turned violent. When Couture positioned himself between DiRico and the woman, DiRico turned on Couture and assaulted him repeatedly, Jebb said. The battering continued even after Couture was on the ground, he said.

"He sustained serious injuries," Jebb said. Couture, who needed 11 stitches to close a head wound, will remain out of work until he's well enough to return, according to Jebb.

DiRico, a top amateur golfer and former golf club pro in western Massachusetts, apparently is also a mixed martial artist, Jebb said. The sport blends various martial arts techniques and has gained mainstream popularity in recent years.

Jebb said DiRico posted $2,500 bail for his release shortly after 12 p.m. Monday. In addition to assault with intent to murder, DiRico will be arraigned Tuesday in Chicopee District Court on charges of assault and battery on a police officer with serious injury; assault and battery on a police officer; domestic assault and battery; assault and resisting arrest.

It was unclear if DiRico has an attorney; he could not be reached for comment Monday. A woman who answered the phone at the home of his father, Thomas J. DiRico, said the family had no comment. Thomas DiRico is the golf director for Chicopee Country Club.

Jay DiRico retired from the Massachusetts Trial Court in December 2005. He still receives a court officer pension totaling more than $3,500 monthly, according to a 2009 state pension report published in the Boston Herald.

The upgrades should make electric service more reliable because there will be two redundant lines installed.

File photo | The RepublicanAn employee for Chicopee Electric Light works on lines in this past photograph.

CHICOPEE — Hoping to improve reliability, Chicopee Electric Light Company is beginning a project to replace a transformer station and upgrade transmission lines.

The company will replace a substation on Prospect Street, which is least 40 years old and leased from Holyoke Gas and Electric, said Jeffrey R. Cady, general manager of Chicopee Electric Light.

The company offered four different alternatives to replacing the substation. It had initially recommended building a new substation on piece of property between Ingham and Frink streets, but neighbors protested at the meeting.

“We considered it a compromise between rebuilding the one on Prospect Street and Memorial Drive. Our concern was people wouldn’t want the transmission lines on the easements,” Cady said.

But residents said they would prefer to have the substation built on Memorial Drive near the intersection of Vadnais Street and were not concerned about the easements.

That site on Memorial Drive was actually the preferred one by Chicopee Electric Light, in part because development is expected to happen in that area. It had recommended the location on Ingham and Frink Streets mainly because officials said they thought residents would prefer it, Cady said.

The lot is owned by Chicopee Electric Light and years ago housed a substation that was torn down after it became obsolete, Cady said.

The City Council approved the site after its subcommittee meeting.

Along with the transmission station, Chicopee Electric Light will also add new lines which will be much higher than the existing ones.

“This will improve reliability along these corridors,” Cady said. “They will be 70-feet high and there will be two redundant lines so if you lose one, the other is there and people won’t lose power.”

The transmission lines will not be on the large towers that Northeast Utilities are placing off Granby Road as part of the Greater Reliability Project. Instead they will be less noticeable and fewer poles will be needed than there are now, Cady said.

Construction on the new station is expected to begin at the end of 2013.

The project will cost a total of $9.5 million, but $3 million will be reimbursed through ISO New England. The rest will be paid for with the company’s reserves and some of the money will be borrowed, he said.

The suspect put the officer in a choke hold and said "I could kill you right now," according to court documents.

An updated version of this story is now available at MassLive.

CHICOPEE – Police Officer Jeffrey Couture feared for his life and threatened to shoot Jay T. DiRico as they struggled on the floor of DiRico’s Murphy Lane home Sunday afternoon, according to an incident report written by the officer.

DiRico, a local top golfer and former state court officer, denied a charge of attempted murder and other charges during his arraignment Tuesday afternoon in District Court.

Judge Mark Mason revoked bail for DiRico pending a dangerousness hearing set for Friday in District Court. Mason issued the ruling after hearing sharply conflicting accounts of the violent encounter between DiRico and Couture.

DiRico posted $2,500 for his release on Monday.

Couture was summoned to the home to help a woman, apparently a former girlfriend, retrieve some of her belongings, according to court documents.

DiRico became enraged at one point, however, and Couture intervened to prevent him from attacking the woman.

Couture, pinned to the kitchen floor by DiRico, could not move his arms to access his pepper spray, baton, or even his police radio.

“I could not get to my radio to let them know I was being pinned down (by) an enraged assaultive subject and I was at serious disadvantage,” Couture wrote in his incident report.

When Couture rolled in an attempt to gain advantage, DiRico slid behind the officer and put his arms around him in a chokehold.

“He said 'I could (expletive) kill you right now' as he began to squeeze harder,” Couture wrote in the report.

Fortunately for Couture, the emergency button on his police radio was activated during the scuffle and the officer could hear dispatchers calling to check on his well-being.

Repeatedly punched while on the floor, Couture wrote that he was becoming physically exhausted: “Blood was coming out of my mouth, my head and face were throbbing and I was feeling disoriented.”.

“I said to Jay, 'If you don’t let me go of me now I am going to shoot you.' I felt at that point if he had continued to choke me that would have been my only defense to save my life,” Couture wrote in the report.

At that point, DiRico got off the officer and headed outside. Couture followed, fearful for the woman’s safety, and sprayed the suspect with pepper spray in the driveway. Couture eventually managed to handcuff DiRico and place him inside the cruiser.

Even so, DiRico’s threats against Couture continued.

“You are going to lose your job over this,” he told Couture, according to the report. “No one puts their hands on me in my house, you're lucky I didn’t kill you. I know jiu jitsu, I could have killed you easy.”

DiRico, a top amateur golfer and former golf club pro in western Massachusetts, apparently also practices mixed martial arts, Deputy Police Chief William R. Jebb said.

Couture wrote that the woman needed to retrieve a cell phone and some clothing from the home at 63 Murphy Lane.

DiRico began to yell and said “She doesn’t live here, she isn’t coming in. I pay the utility bills here, that means I own the house.”

Couture, according to his report, then “calmly explained to him that because she moved in with him earlier in the year she does live there and just needed a few belongings. He then told me I was wrong and he knew better because he was a court officer for 13 years.”

DiRico then calmed down. Couture wrote that he could smell alcohol on DiRico’s breath but did not feel he was intoxicated.

The officer, DiRico and the woman then walked into the kitchen where the sight of two empty bottles of Jose Cuervo tequila apparently sparked a verbal argument between DiRico and the woman, according to the report.

“At that point it was as if someone flipped a switch. There is no doubt in my mind Jay was about to attack her,” Couture wrote.

The officer physically intervened and DiRico then punched him in the face when he attempted to handcuff him, Couture wrote.

That’s when the struggle moved to the floor, according to Couture.

Reporter Jack Flynn contributed to this report

DiRico has been charged with attempted murder; he pleaded not guilty in Chicopee District Court.

An updated version of this story is now available at MassLIve.

CHICOPEE – A judge revoked bail Tuesday for golf professional Jay T. DiRico pending a dangerousness hearing set for Friday in District Court.

Judge Mark Mason issued the ruling in Chicopee District Court after hearing sharply conflicting accounts of a violent encounter on Sunday afternoon between DiRico and Chicopee Police Officer Jeffrey Couture.

DiRico has been charged with attempted murder. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Assistant District Attorney Cary Szafranski said DiRico pinned the officer to the floor, repeatedly punching him and placing him in a choke hold. The officer needed stitches and a tetanus shot at Baystate Medical Center.

Couture was responding to a domestic violence call, according to a police report.

DiRico’s lawyer said the patrolman punched and pepper sprayed his client after being dispatched to help DiRico’s former girlfriend retrieve possessions from his home.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 2:27 this afternoon.

CHICOPEE — A judge revoked bail Tuesday for former golf professional and state court officer Jay T. DiRico amid clashing accounts of his Sunday afternoon skirmish with a patrolman on his kitchen floor.

Judge Mark D. Mason ordered the 40-year-old defendant held without bail until a dangerousness hearing Friday after a prosecutor described how officer Jeffrey Couture was jumped, pummeled and choked during a routine call at DiRico’s Murphy Lane home.

“He feared for his life,” Assistant District Attorney Cary Szafranski told the court. Later, DiRico told the officer: “I know ju jit su, I could have killed you easy,” the prosecutor said.

But DiRico’s lawyer, Timothy P. Mannion, said the patrolman punched and pepper sprayed his client after being dispatched to help DiRico’s former girlfriend retrieve possessions from his home.

At the police station, he was struck repeatedly while being booked, Mannion said.

To emphasize his point, DiRico pulled up his shirt, displaying a bruised ribcage. “I guessed Mr. DiRico had a wry smile on his face; they decided to wipe that away,” Mannion said.

DiRico denied charges of attempted murder and other charges during his arraignment in District Court. Dressed in a golf shirt and tan pants, the defendant – who retired in 2005 from his state job – appeared stunned as a court officer handcuffed him and led him from the courtroom.

He had posted $2,500 for his release on Monday.

Couture’s arrest report, made public Tuesday offers, a graphic account of what happened in DiRico’s kitchen Sunday afternoon. As the woman was preparing to leave with her possessions, the officer tried to stop DiRico from confronting her and was thrown to the floor.

Pinned to the floor, Couture said he could not move his arms to access his pepper spray, baton – or even his police radio.

“I could not get to my radio to let them know I was being pinned down (by) an enraged assaultive subject and I was at serious disadvantage,” Couture wrote in his incident report.

When Couture rolled in an attempt to gain advantage, DiRico slid behind the officer and put his arms around him in a chokehold. “He said ‘I could (expletive) kill you right now’ as he began to squeeze harder,” Couture wrote in the report.

Repeatedly punched while on the floor, Couture wrote that he was becoming physically exhausted. “Blood was coming out of my mouth, my head and face were throbbing and I was feeling disoriented.”.

“I said to Jay, ‘If you don’t let me go of me now I am going to shoot you.” Couture wrote.

At that point, DiRico got off the officer and headed outside. Couture followed, fearful for the woman’s safety, and sprayed the suspect with pepper spray in the driveway. Couture eventually managed to handcuff DiRico and place him inside the cruiser.

DiRico, a top amateur golfer and former golf club pro in western Massachusetts, apparently is also a mixed martial artist, Deputy Police Chief William R. Jebb said. The sport blends various martial arts techniques and has gained mainstream popularity in recent years.

Couture wrote that he could smell alcohol on the DiRico’s breath but did not feel he was intoxicated.”

The officer, DiRico and the woman then walked into the kitchen where the sight of two empty bottles of Jose Cuervo tequila apparently sparked a verbal argument between DiRico and the woman, according to the report.

“At that point it was as if someone flipped a switch. There is no doubt in my mind Jay was about to attack her,” Couture wrote.

The officer needed 10 stitches and a tetanus shot at Baystate Medical Center, Szafranski said.

Mannion said the officer’s injuries were exaggerated while his clients were omitted from the police report.

Staff writer George Graham contributed to this report.

The crash occurred shortly before 8 a.m. on Wednesday.

Republican file photo

WILBRAHAM - Police continue to probe a three-vehicle crash Wednesday morning at Boston and Brainard roads that sent a Chicopee woman and a Wilbraham man to area hospitals.

Investigating officer John Siniscalchi said the accident occurred shortly before 8 a.m. as Chase Bordenuk, a 19-year-old Wilbraham resident, drove a Toyota Rav 4 west on Boston Road.

Nancy Mruk, 56, of Chicopee, was driving a 1993 Jeep Grand Cherokee east when she collided with Bordenuk as he made a left turn onto Brainard, Siniscalchi said.

“It appears the Bordenuk vehicle cut out in front of her, she didn’t have time to stop,” Siniscalchi said, adding that Mruk hit the passenger side of the Rav.

The impact of the crash sent Mruk’s Grand Cherokee over onto its roof, Siniscalchi said.

Bordenuk’s vehicle spun 180 degrees and struck a van that was stopped on Brainard, at the intersection of Boston, waiting for traffic to clear.

The driver of the van, Fred Ferraro, 47, of Wilbraham, was not injured.

It took police and fire responders about ten minutes to get Mruk out of the Grand Cherokee. Mruk, who was not wearing a seat belt, was discovered in the rear passenger area of the overturned vehicle.

“She was really lucky she didn’t get ejected,” Siniscalchi said, adding that Mruk was conscious and complained of back pain. “She got banged around pretty good,” Siniscalchi said.

According to reports, Mruk was listed in good condition at Baystate and Bordenuk was taken to Wing Memorial Hospital in Palmer where he was treated and released.

Bordenuk was also not wearing a seat belt and one of his air bags deployed. His head struck the windshield during the crash, Siniscalchi said.

Ferraro was wearing a seat belt. Seat belt use by the other two drivers would have likely resulted in less serious injuries to them.

These days, Siniscalchi, said, more people tend to wear seat belts than not. “Especially a lot of the younger drivers,” he said.

The map below shows the approximate location of the crash. (Note: Google maps erroneously lists this section of road as "U.S. Route 20 in Illinois.")

View Site of three-vehicle crash on Boston Road in Wilbraham in a larger map

After a domestic assault and battery conviction in 1994, a pattern of domestic violence, break-ins, possession and discharge of illegal firearms and assaults on police officers and others ensued, according to Laguer's state conviction summary.

CHICOPEE — Carlos Laguer, whose two-hour shootout with police wounded a state trooper and terrorized downtown last Friday morning, had a long record of violent crime in Massachusetts.

Preliminary autopsy reports show the 41-year-old Laguer likely shot and killed himself while holed up in the first-floor apartment at 102 West St.

Trooper John Vasquez, taken to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield for treatment of gunshot wounds to his hand and lower left leg, is now recuperating at home.

Investigators continue to probe Laguer’s violent attack that shaken witnesses described as something akin to the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral or something straight out of a Hollywood movie.

Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni said Laguer was armed with more than one weapon – including an “automatic-type weapon.” Investigators believe between 70 and 100 bullets were fired when Laguer and local and state police exchanged gunfire.

It started, Mastroianni said, as a reported domestic disturbance at about 7:45 a.m.

Laguer’s first known brush with the law as an adult in Massachusetts involved a domestic altercation as well.

According to Laguer’s conviction summary, provided by the state Department of Criminal Justice Information Services, he was convicted of domestic assault and battery in Northampton District court in 1994, when he was 24 years old. That summary lists his formal name as Carlos A. Gonzalez Laguer or Carlos Gonzalez-Laguer.

A clear pattern of domestic violence, break-ins, possession and discharge of illegal firearms and assaults on police officers and others ensues, according to the criminal offender records.

In a way, Laguer’s final burst of violence last Friday encapsulates all the elements of his long criminal history.

A year after that first Northampton conviction, Laguer was again convicted, in that same courtroom – this time of violating a restraining order.

More convictions ensued over the years, including two counts of possession of a firearm without an FID card in Holyoke District Court in 1997, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of violating a restraining in Northampton in 1998.

Laguer’s most recent convictions – for one of his more violent acts – were handed down in Springfield District Court in 2004. The incident that led to those convictions is eerily similar to last Friday’s – minus the withering gunfire. It was a break-in, followed by an attack on those inside and on the responding police officers.

It started when Laguer broke into an apartment at 20 Healey St. in Springfield on May 21 of that year and assaulted his ex-girlfriend and a man inside.

The victims, according to a report written by Officer John D. Wilson, were able to push Laguer out the door, but not before he inflicted a two-inch scratch on the woman’s chest.

A few moments later, all the windows in the front of the home were smashed out.

When the man went outside to see what was going on, Laguer attacked him. As they rolled around on the broken glass, Laguer bit the man on the arms some 15 to 20 times, according to the report.

Springfield Police Narrative for Officer John Wilson RE Carlos Laguer Arrest, May 21, 2004

When Wilson arrived at the home, Laguer, told that he was about to be arrested for breaking and entering, pushed the officer. Wilson followed with a glancing baton blow to the suspect’s legs, the report states.

The officer then lost control of the baton due to his sweaty hands and Laguer grabbed him by the throat. The man then came to Wilson’s aid and they managed to subdue Laguer.

Once in the cruiser, Laguer went wild in an attempt to get out and struck another officer in the head and chest, according to Wilson’s report.

Laguer was ordered held without right to bail at his arraignment on that case.

In the court file, noted as reasons for the decision to hold him without right to bail are that Laguer had 11 prior convictions for crimes of violence including “numerous abuse prevention incidents” and possessing and discharging a firearm.

Laguer’s record shows numerous jail sentences served for those convictions.

Information in that file shows that by 2004, three women had taken out restraining orders against him for short periods of time, but one of them had taken out restraining orders a number of different times against him.

Laguer was ultimately convicted in the Springfield case of malicious destruction of property, two counts of assault and battery, two counts of assault and battery on a police officer and breaking and entering in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony. He was sentenced to a year in jail.

Staff reporter Buffy Spencer contributed to this report.

The killing of Amanda Plasse in her School Street apartment remains unsolved.

CHICOPEE — Business owners and city officials are confident their efforts to revitalize downtown will not be undone by several high-profile violent incidents in the past months.

Friday’s massive shooting on West Street that left a state trooper injured was the most dramatic. In the months before, 20-year-old Amanda L. Plasse was murdered less than two blocks away in her apartment on School Street and there was a shooting and stabbing outside a nightclub, also on School Street.

Corey J. Briere, owner of Complete IT Solutions Inc., who also owns an office building at 10 Center St. said he believes the police have done a good job cleaning up crime problems downtown and said sidewalk, road and other improvements has helped.

“The three incidents, they are isolated. There is nothing to connect them,” he said.

He said he has little problems renting office and retail space because people think the area is unsafe, despite the violent assaults.

Plasse was killed in her third-floor apartment at 73 School St. on Aug. 26 and her homicide remains unsolved. Five months later one man was shot and a second was stabbed on Jan. 21, on School Street.

Friday’s shooting left the gunman, Carlos Laguer, 41, dead. Autopsy results showed he shot himself but also had been hit by police fire. The shoot-out started when a State Police trooper, responding to a complaint of domestic violence, was shot in the leg and hand by Laguer when he arrived. That led to a two-hour stand-off where more than 70 bullets were fired.

“I don’t know how this could have been prevented,” Briere said.

City Councilor Charles M. Swider, who owns Chuck’s Auto Body three doors down from Friday’s shooting at 102 West St., said people don’t tell him Chicopee center is unsafe.

“An officer got into an ambush because someone was out of his mind and out of control,” he said. “It could have happened anywhere.”

Swider said he had stopped at a neighboring store on his way to work when the shooting started on Friday. He attempted to reach his business, but never did because roads were blocked.

He said he knew the woman who was involved in the domestic attack that led to the shooting.

“She was a customer of ours. She is a very nice lady. I’ve never seen the guy,” he said.

Swider said he walks the neighborhood often and never has a problem. Several restaurants always seem to be busy.

“People feel safe. The streets are well-lit, we put in all new lighting,” he said.

Gail A. Sherman, president of the Chicopee Chamber of Commerce, which is located in downtown, said she sees the violence as isolated as well.

“I don’t think it will hurt anything downtown,” she said. “Being between two cities who have so many problems, I still think we are the safest place to be.”

Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette, who has focused a lot of energy on winning grants to improve infrastructure downtown and attracting businesses, said he does not see the problems deterring people from coming to downtown.

“I don’t think any community will have a totally crime-free downtown but we are trying to get on top of it,” he said.

He said he talks to the police chief every time he sees him about the killing of Plasse. Solving the crime continues to be a department priority and police are still hoping someone comes forward with information about the crime.

“I think these are isolated incidents rather than a pattern but it is part of our effort to clean up the downtown to remove the stigma that it is a troubled area.”

At the same time there has been more focus on upgrading the housing stock. There have also been several new businesses locating in the area, including the new West Street Market, which was next to the shooting location.

“Something like this is so unpredictable that even the best code enforcement and the best health codes will not predict any lunatic with a gun,” he said.

A suspect was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, a knife, after a dispute erupted during a volleyball game.

Republican file photo

CHICOPEE – Things got heated during a volleyball game Wednesday in Szot Park, where police charged a suspect with assault with a dangerous weapon following a dispute between two groups of people.

The incident was reported just after 6:30 p.m. and reportedly stemmed from a fight sparked by a child who repeatedly snatched a ball being used in a volleyball game. Chicopee Police Lt. Patrick Major told ABC40 there were two groups in the park, and the child was with one of the groups.

Police said a fight ensued and a suspect, whose identity and gender were not released, was taken into custody and charged with assault with a knife. One person was "visibly bloodied," according to a 22News report, but police said no one was seriously injured. A knife was recovered at the scene, police said.

Chicopee authorities were unable to immediately provide the name of the suspect, who's expected to be arraigned today in Chicopee District Court. A shift commander said this morning that the case is being handled by the Detective Bureau.

Roughly two dozen people were present during the altercation, which happened in the southern end of the park near Armory Drive and Abby Memorial Drive.

MAP OF ALLEGED CRIME SCENE:

View Larger Map

The woman, in her request for a restraining order against Laguer, wrote that she and her children feared for their lives.

CHICOPEE — Chicopee shooter Carlos Laguer, wielding a gun, held a woman hostage for seven hours in their West Street apartment late last year, according to information in a restraining order that she subsequently took out against him.

The 41-year-old Laguer violated that restraining order last Friday morning when he entered the first-floor apartment at 102 West St., setting off a violent chain of events that saw a quiet neighborhood riddled with gunfire, the wounding of a state trooper and his own death by gunfire – perhaps by his own hand.

Trooper John Vasquez, the first to respond to a report of a domestic disturbance at the West Street apartment, suffered gunshot wounds to his hand and lower left leg. He was admitted to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and is now recuperating at home.

Hampden County District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni is expected to issue an update on the investigation later today.

The woman wrote in her affidavit, filed in Springfield District Court on Nov. 17, that Laguer threw a plate of food at her, threw bedroom furniture down the stairs, punched her in the right thigh, aggressively held her down and slapped her and held her hostage for seven hours in her bedroom with a gun.

She wrote that Laguer threatened her in front of her two children “putting fear in their hearts. I am in so much fear of my life and my children.”

She wrote that Laguer – who caught the eye of his neighbors because he drove a pink Lexus and was often seen on the front steps drinking beer and smoking cigarettes – was not employed, but received Supplemental Security Income.

She asked for and got the order to say Laguer could have “no contact with my kids.”

The restraining order went into effect on Nov. 21 and would have expired on Dec. 5 of this year. In the restraining order, the man is referred to as Carlos Gonzalez-Laguer.

Laguer had a long history of domestic abuse, illegal gun possession and assaults against police officers and others in Western Massachusetts, according to his conviction summary, provided by the state Department of Criminal Justice Information Services.

That history yielded at least 11 convictions in Springfield, Holyoke and Northampton district courts and numerous jail sentences served.

Information in a court file pertaining to Laguer’s most recent convictions, in Springfield District Court in 2004, shows that three women had taken out restraining orders against him for short periods of time. One of them had taken out restraining orders a number of different times against him.

Lageur had 206 rounds of ammunition, in addition to the ammunition loaded into the weapons found at the 102 West St. scene, available to him.

SPRINGFIELD — Hampden District Attorney Mark Mastroianni released the preliminary results of the investigation into the shootout in Chicopee last Friday that left the shooter, Carlos Lageur, dead and a Massachusetts State Police trooper and a Springfield woman injured.

The report states that Lageur had at least two handguns, an assault rifle and 206 rounds of ammunition, in addition to the ammunition loaded into the weapons found at the 102 West St. scene, available to him.

According to the report, an autopsy showed that Lageur died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head.

Read Mastroianni's full report here:

Hampden DA Press Release on Carlos Laguer Chicopee Shooting

Hampden County DA Mark Mastroianni also revealed that 1 bystander was injured in the shootout – a woman seated in her car at the nearby gas station was struck in the thigh as her car was hit repeatedly by gunfire.

CHICOPEE — The man in last week’s shoot-out with police, Carlos A. Gonzalez-Laguer, committed suicide by shooting himself in the head after he had been struck at least twice by bullets fired by police, according results of the autopsy disclosed Thursday by Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni.

The disclosure was part of a larger release by Mastroianni detailing the preliminary investigation into the April 13 confrontation on West Street between Gonzalez-Laguer, 41, of Springfield, and state and local police that resulted in more than 70 shots being fired, two people injured, including a state trooper, and the entire neighborhood left in terror.

Gonzalez-Laguer previously had been identified by authorities as Carlos Laguer.

The incident was part on an escalating domestic dispute between Gonzalez-Laguer and the unidentified woman living on the first-floor apartment at 102 West St. The woman had previously taken out a restraining order against Gonzalez-Laguer, but on that morning he was not deterred, arriving at her apartment with three guns and more than 200 rounds of ammunition and an apparent willingness to use it.

The very first officers arriving on scene just after 7:45 a.m. for reports of a home invasion were met with a hail of gunfire as Gonzalez-Laguer shot at them from an enclosed front porch. State trooper John Vasquez was struck by bullets in the left lower leg and right hand and by shrapnel in the right leg.

Mastroianni also revealed that one bystander was injured in the shootout. A woman seated in her car at the nearby gas station was struck in the thigh as her car was hit repeatedly by gunfire. She apparently left the scene and was treated at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and then released. Authorities apparently did not know about her until the following day.

At the very beginning of the incident, before the police were even called, Gonzalez-Laguer pointed his .45-caliber handgun at the chest of a second-floor resident of 102 West St. and pulled the trigger. The gun did not fire and the man was able to back away.

The owner of the three-family West Street home told The Republican and MassLive.com on Saturday that Gonzalez-Laguer demanded to be let inside the building, but her husband refused. She said Gonzalez-Laguer pointed a gun to her husband’s chest and said, “Well that’s too bad.”

She said he pulled the trigger, but the gun didn't go off.

The autopsy, conducted Saturday by Dr. Henry Neils, chief medical examiner for Massachusetts, showed Gonzalez-Laguer died of a gunshot wound to the head, but also had non-fatal gunshot injuries to the abdomen and arm. Neils determined those appeared to have been caused by police during the exchange of gunfire, but the wound to the head was self-inflicted.

Gonzalez-Laguer was found dead inside the kitchen at 102 West St. when troopers stormed the house more than two hours after the shooting started. All the gas burners on the kitchen stove had been opened and a candle had been left burning nearby.

Until the autopsy was completed, officials had been unsure if Gonzalez-Laguer had taken his own life or died in the shootout with police.

Mastroianni said police found Gonzalez-Laguer had three weapons and more than 200 hundred rounds of ammunition. The guns were an Olympic Arms AR-15 semi-automatic assault rifle that was loaded with nine rounds in a 30-round clip, a Ruger .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun loaded with four rounds, and a Smith & Wesson .45 semi-automatic handgun that had one round partially loaded in the chamber. The gun had jammed and was incapable of firing.

Police also found 206 total rounds of ammunition and another 64 rounds in .40 caliber and 9 mm ammunition that was not compatible with any of the weapons found on the scene.

Mastroianni notes that Gonzalez-Laguer was not licensed or permitted to own either firearms or ammunition. State police are working to trace how he obtained the guns and ammunition.

Mastroianni said Gonzalez-Laguer fired 64 rounds of rifle ammunition and three rounds of .45 caliber handgun.

State police returned fire with just eight shots, five from a patrol rifle and three from handguns. Investigators are still working on ballistics testing of each recovered round, Mastroianni said.

Trooper Vasquez’ cruiser was struck 15 times, another state police cruiser four times and two Chicopee police cruisers once each.

Several civilian vehicles in the vicinity also were struck.

The conflagration of violence on West Street was the culmination of a stormy and often violent relationship between Gonzalez-Laguer and the woman residing in the first-floor of 102 West St.

The two had been in a relationship but had been estranged for a few months.

On Nov. 17, she applied for a restraining order in Springfield District Court, claiming he had previously beaten her, abused her and held her against her will. In her affidavit for the order, she said Gonzalez-Laguer threw a plate of food at her, threw bedroom furniture down the stairs, punched her in the right thigh, aggressively held her down and slapped her and held her hostage for seven hours in her bedroom with a gun. She wrote that Gonzalez-Laguer threatened her in front of her two children, “putting fear in their hearts. I am in so much fear of my life and my children.”

She wrote that Gonzalez-Lager was not employed, but received Supplemental Security Income.

She asked for and got the order to say Gonzalez-Lager could have “no contact with my kids.” The restraining order went into effect on Nov. 21 and would have expired on Dec. 5 of this year. In the restraining order, the man is referred to as Carlos Gonzalez-Laguer. The woman apparently did not seek criminal charges against him for holding her hostage and assaulting her, seeking instead to obtain the restraining order.

According to Mastroianni’s statement, on the morning of the April 13, she was getting ready for work and to send her son off to school when she received a text message from Gonzalez-Laguer saying he was on his way over. The text itself was a violation of the court order.

She told police she sent him a reply that “rejected his advances,” Mastroianni said.

When Gonzalez-Laguer arrived, he asked a second-floor tenant to help him enter the first-floor apartment. The man, who was not identified, declined to help, Gonzales-Laguer pointed his gun at him and pulled the trigger, but it failed to fire.

The woman told police she watched Gonzalez-Laguer smash the front window to her apartment. When she yelled at him, he fired several shots at her as she dove for cover and called 911. She told police she did not flee the apartment because her son was still inside.

Hampden DA Press Release on Carlos Laguer Chicopee Shooting

Gonzalez-Laguer entered the apartment through the window and met the woman’s 8-year-old son. He told the boy to go back to his bedroom while beginning to shoot from the window at fleeing neighborhood residents and police officers who had begun arriving on the scene.

Two of the officers at this time opened fire at Gonzalez-Laguer.

The woman and her son were able to escape the house unharmed once the initial exchange of gunfire subsided.

Mastroianni said the investigation is continuing jointly by state police detectives assigned to his office and the Chicopee police.

He said a final report will be issued once ballistic testing and examination of the evidence is completed and reports by investigators finalized.

He gave credit to all responding law enforcement and emergency personnel for what he called their “focused and professional efforts.”

Mastroianni said “The potential for greater injury to the victims, officers, and bystanders was minimized by the communication and cooperation show by responding law enforcement officers and other emergency personnel from the city of Chicopee and the Massachusetts State Police, and their courageous, appropriate and reasoned response to a volatile and dangerous situation.”

Staff reporter Buffy Spencer contributed to this article.

The School Committee has been studying the athletic eligibility policy since 2009.

Republican file photoThe Chicopee Comprehensive High School girls' basketball takes on Longmeadow in this February game.

CHICOPEE – Students will have to pass one more class and keep an overall grade point average that is slightly higher than passing if they want to play sports next fall.

The School Committee adopted a new athletic eligibility policy Wednesday in 8-3 votes. It calls for students to pass five of their seven courses and maintain a 65 percent grade point average to play. The passing grade is 60 percent.

The committee has been studying the policy since 2009 when high school students approached them concerned that the current rules that require students to pass four classes is not strict enough. The policy, which meets minimum standards set by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, is one of the weakest among area school districts.

The new policy makes an exception for Chicopee Academy, the city’s alternative school. Since students take just five classes at a time they will only have pass four to play. It also allows a one-time waiver for students who have a reason for failing the requirement.

A School Committee task force of students, teachers, coaches and parents studied changes and proposed the new standards.

The School Committee needed a two-thirds majority, or eight votes, to pass the policy. It also suspended the rules to take a final vote this week so students and educators could prepare for the change. Grade point average this spring will determine eligibility next fall.

It will continue to review the policy to see the impact it has on the sports program. At the same time the committee agreed to consider requiring students to meet the same requirements to participate in clubs and other after-school activities.

Much of the debate centered around the question of whether the new policy is strict enough.

“I want the rigor increased but not at this level,” School Committee member Chester J. Szetela said.

Athletes can still fail two classes each semester and earn a D average. They could play sports every year without ever passing required courses such as math and English, he said.

Szetela, who voted against the policy, also argued conduct and effort should be considered in eligibility requirements.

But others, including Superintendent Richard W. Rege Jr., argued against making the policy too strict too soon.

Rege said he supports requiring students to pass five classes but questioned if it is right to hold athletes to a higher standard by requiring them to earn a 65 grade point average when passing grades are 60 percent.

“I’m concerned by trying to do too much too soon we will increase our drop-out rate,” he said.

Committee member David G. Barsalou called it a modest change that was appropriate. He reminded other members students sometimes fail courses no matter how hard they try, especially when they take a class in a new subject area.

“A ‘C’ is considered an average grade. I don’t know when this mind set changed that a kid had to be an A or B student,” he said.

Others agreed, saying the School Committee can always make the eligibility requirements stricter in the future.

“It is a baby step but it is the right baby step,” Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello, a committee member said.