HOLYOKE — Police are investigating a Friday morning shooting on Sargeant Street that left a city man with a gunshot wound in his leg.
Holyoke police received a call reporting gunshots near the corner of Beech and Sargeant streets at around 8:17 a.m., Police Lt. Jim Albert said. Upon arrival, police determined shots had been fired in the parking lot of Quik Stop Food Mart at 172 Sargeant St., he said.
Albert said the victim, a 33-year-old man from Holyoke, was not found at the scene. Instead, police found the man already checked into the emergency room at Holyoke Hospital. His wound is a non-life-threatening, police said.
Police found shell casings at the scene, Albert said, noting that as many as four gunshots may have been fired.
“More than likely it was a handgun,” Albert said, though he would not disclose the gun’s caliber.
Albert said police were not receiving a lot of cooperation from residents in the area, saying the Holyoke Police Criminal Investigations Bureau is currently canvassing the neighborhood for witnesses and potential video that may have captured the incident. Police do not currently have a suspect at this time, he said.
The shooting happened in a “high traffic area” near Holyoke High School North, Albert said. Both the school and the nearby senior center were sheltering-in-place, he said.
In a letter sent to parents, Holyoke High School Executive Principal Stephen Mahoney said that visitors, staff and students were escorted to the school’s gymnasium “for their safety.” Instruction continued during the shelter-in-place, which only lasted 10 minutes, he said.
“Our primary focus is the safety and education of our students. We made the decision to keep everyone in a shelter in place until the police gave us clearance to release it,” Mahoney wrote.
Michael Connors can be reached at mconnors@gazettenet.com.