Daylong standoff at Holyoke motel on Route 5 ends with suspect’s death

HOLYOKE — Local and state police converged on the Budget Inn on Route 5 in Holyoke Thursday morning where a suspect in a fatal shooting in Hartford had barricaded himself in a room, police told the motel owners.

According to the family who owns the Budget Inn, police told them the suspect shot and killed himself in the room at some point during the day. A state medical examiner arrived at the scene and entered room 2 at the motel and a body was removed from the room at around 5 p.m. The suspect’s car also was towed from the parking lot of the motel in the afternoon.

Nistha Patel, the daughter of the Budget Inn owners, said motel residents and civilians in the area were relocated to the Summit View Banquet Hall, located at 555 Northampton St., as Holyoke, Hartford and Massachusetts State Police surrounded the Inn.

“There was a guy and a girl that came in at 2 a.m. and they rented a room, and it was just a girl that rented a room. We’ve known her, we’ve given her a room before,” Patel said. “I don’t know how or why the cops got here, but the assumption is, his car was here, and that’s how they tracked him down here, and then they were set up everywhere because they knew he was dangerous, and from 7 a.m. until almost 3 p.m., they were trying to get the warrant … when they finally got the warrant, they talked to him. He said that he was just going to start shooting people.”

Hours later, Patel said police confirmed to her that the man had shot himself in the room’s bathroom.

A long section of Route 5 between Mountain Park Road and the Easthampton city line was shut down throughout the day as local and state police surrounded the motel at 579 Northampton St.

Law enforcement vehicles were seen racing down Northampton Street in Holyoke at 8:15 a.m. when police quickly closed the road to motor vehicles. Massachusetts State Police did not respond to inquiries about the emergency as of 5 p.m. but a heavy law enforcement presence continued to build outside the Budget Inn in the morning hours, including the Hartford Police Crime Scene Division.

Approximately eight hours before Route 5 was closed, the Hartford Police Department posted on its Facebook page that it had responded to a shooting at 149 Magnolia St. in that city. Upon arrival, officers located a parked vehicle with an unresponsive woman in the driver’s seat suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. The victim, Diana Tirado, 46, of New Britain, Connecticut, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers also located a second female on the sidewalk suffering from a gunshot wound. That victim, a woman in her 30s, was transported to an area hospital, where she was listed in stable condition, according to Hartford Police.

In Holyoke Thursday morning, Tony Basile, owner of Hamel’s Catering, which is located near the Budget Inn, said he received a call from Massachusetts State Police informing him that there was an active, and potentially dangerous, situation at the Inn. He said he agreed to shelter nearby civilians, though the road closure has held up his clients, including one funeral service scheduled for this morning.

“It’s been blocked down since I think maybe somewhere between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. this morning. We had a funeral that’s waiting to get in there, so it’s just been kind of the severity of the situation seems to be pretty extreme,” Basile said. “Our clients and local residents, obviously people that are within walking distance, were able to just walk onto our property as the police have asked us to allow them to … we’re a big supporter of our community, so of course we allowed them in. Safety first.”