HOLYOKE — A Springfield man has been charged with murder in connection with an August 2018 shooting that left a city teenager dead, the Hampden district attorney’s office announced Friday.
Derrick Brooks, 23, pleaded not guilty over video conference on Friday in Westfield District Court to charges of murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, according to a statement released by the Hampden district attorney’s office. He has been held without the right to bail.
On August 26, 2018, Holyoke police responded at 1:22 a.m. to a shooting at 256 Maple St. that left Mark Diaz, 19, dead. Detectives from the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni’s Office and the Holyoke Police Department then opened a homicide investigation.
The investigation revealed that the shooting allegedly happened at a party where local musicians, including Diaz, were playing, the statement said. Diaz walked out on Maple Street where he was apparently shot, before retreating back inside before collapsing, according to the statement.
“Investigators never lost sight of justice for Mr. Diaz and his family and continued to press forward for nearly two years. I would like to thank the members of the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit in my office and those from the Holyoke Police Department for their relentless work in this case,” Gulluni said in the statement. “Violence against innocent citizens will be met with law enforcement’s most tenacious efforts.”
Detectives sought criminal charges against Brooks on Thursday the statement said. Brooks had already been detained at the Hampden County House of Corrections in Ludlow on unrelated charges, according to the statement.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Hampden District Attorney’s Murder Unit also assisted in investigating this case, the statement said. The investigation is still open, according to a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.