BELCHERTOWN — Four stray bullets that struck homes on Mountain View Drive in 2023 and 2024 likely came from the nearby Granby Bow and Gun Club, according to an investigation into the incidents recently completed by the Northwestern district attorney’s office.
The DA’s office, along with local and state police, in April 2024 began investigating reports of bullets hitting two homes and one shed on Mountain View. The first incident occurred on June 27, 2023, when a bullet shattered a glass door at 120 Mountain View. Another sliding glass door was shattered by a bullet at 147 Mountain View on March 29, 2024, and then on April 4, 2024, a resident at 143 Mountain View found two bullet holes in their shed.
In his findings, detailed in a Sept. 5 letter to Randy Milou, a West Springfield-based attorney for the homeowners, First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said there is no evidence of criminal intent connected to the damage. However, he infers based on the direction of the bullets, the timing of the damage and the lack of backstops maintained at the club’s long-shooting range that the bullets likely originated from the gun club.
“Instead of maintaining backstops with dimensions and materials sufficient to capture and contain any wayward projectiles, the Club seems to have instead relied on the natural upward slope of the terrain,” the report states. “However, this creates a risk that projectiles that miss their intended targets could ricochet and exit the Club property.”
According to the report, the gun club held a sniper training for law enforcement agencies from Connecticut, New Hampshire and Massachusetts on March 29, 2024 — the same day that a bullet hit a Belchertown home. The .30 caliber ammunition matched both the type of ammunition used by long-range rifles during the training and the bullets found on Belchertown property, the report found.
The homes on Mountain View Drive line up with the long-shooting range, and police recovered all bullets on the side of Belchertown properties facing the club, the report states.
Club response
In a statement to the Gazette, the Granby Bow and Gun Club’s attorney, Martha Dean, calls the DA’s report “unprecedented and highly improper,” asserting that it lacks evidence and expert opinion. The gun club previously ruled itself out as a source of the bullets through an internal investigation and expert examination.
“The Granby Bow & Gun Club takes the safe use of firearms seriously, as is clear from its more than 70 year record of safety and peaceful coexistence with homes in Belchertown,” the statement said.
Rather, the gun club claims that DA office’s release of the investigation report is an attempt to influence an ongoing civil case against the club filed by Milou on July 16 in Hampshire Superior Court on behalf of homeowners. The lawsuit alleges the club caused injury of person or property.
When reached for comment on Thursday, those homeowners referred questions to Milou. “My clients and I are hopeful that the court will provide my clients with safety and the assurances they desire to be able to live peacefully in their neighborhood,” he said.
In its statement, the club said there are a large number of alternative sources of bullets in the area of the homes, and criticizes the DA’s office for using the report to “comment on matters currently being litigated in civil court and to distribute false facts and improper opinion to the public concerning a complex scientific matter, all in an obvious effort to sway a pending civil proceeding, taint the county’s jury pool, and harm the Club.”
Lack of cooperation
In the DA’s report, Gagne states that the gun club did not fully cooperate with the investigation despite earlier statements by Club President Ryan Downing saying otherwise. The Club provided authorities with some information and videos, but did not allow entrance to the property for measurements or assessments. Downing had written an April 29, 2024 letter to the Belchertown Select Board stating the club had cooperated with the police investigation and that the club had already ruled itself out as a source of the stray bullets.
The report also notes the “surprising lack of cooperation from fellow law enforcement agencies.” Authorities attempted to examine weapons used by municipal police, state police and SWAT teams during the March 29 sniper training to rule out potential sources of the bullets.
The DA’s office offered two stipulations for cooperation. The Massachusetts State Police Firearms Identification Section agreed to return the weapons within 24 hours, and state authorities promised that none of the attending officers would face criminal liability unless they found evidence of intentionally targeting homes. Even so, at least seven law enforcement groups, many from Connecticut, refused to submit their weapons without a court order or search warrant, the report states.
The report states the Worcester Police Department was fully cooperative and submitted three weapons for test-firing, “which resulted in all three being excluded as a possible source of the wayward projectiles.”
Sgt. Michael Chauvin of the Hartford Police Department, who ran the sniper training, told authorities that there was no reckless conduct during the class. The DA’s office used Chauvin’s account to conclude there was no crimes committed.
The DA’s office on Friday said it had no comment on the report or investigation.