HOLYOKE — A city man was held on $1 million bail Wednesday after he answered in district court to a murder charge that stemmed from an incident in July.
Victor Velez, 29, pleaded not guilty to a charge of murder in Holyoke District Court. Judge William Hadley presided and bail was set at $1 million. Velez was represented by Springfield attorney Nikolas Andreopoulos, who did not respond to request for comment.
On request from the commonwealth, Hadley impounded court documents related to the case. A spokesman with the Hampden district attorney’s office did not respond to repeated requests for comment Wednesday and Thursday. Velez is due back in court on Oct. 2.
A docket sheet for Velez’s case indicates that the alleged offense took place on July 13 in Holyoke.
Holyoke police officers responded to a shooting at 56 Suffolk St. at around 9:45 p.m. on July 13 where they found Jose Bonilla suffering from a gunshot wound, according to a Gazette article at the time. Bonilla, 43, of Holyoke, was rushed to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield where he died a short time later.
In early August, Angel Rivera, 29, of Chicopee, pleaded not guilty in Holyoke District Court to a charge of murder in connection with the fatal shooting of Bonilla. Court documents were also unavailable in Rivera’s case as they were impounded. He is due back in court on Sept. 10.
Bonilla’s death was the third of four fatal shootings in the city this year. In late July, 19-year-old Skyzen Encarnacion pleaded not guilty to the killing of Carlos Ruemmele, 23, of Springfield, near the Holyoke Mall.
Two people were killed in the city within days of one another in January. Jesus Otero Marrero, 21, of Holyoke was found dead by police on South Bridge Street on the morning of Jan. 10. Three people have been charged in connection with Marrero’s death.
On Jan. 11, police found Racquese Wright, 21, of Springfield, suffering from gunshot wounds on Sargeant Street. He later died.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.