Three Springfield men — Jaime Griffin, 31, and 18-year-olds Alberto Torres and Isak Font — were held without bail Friday following a dangerousness hearing in Springfield District Court in connection with the shooting. Two other suspects, 26-year-old Dwight Clarke and 18-year-old Robert Willis III, were injured in the chase and have not yet been arraigned. Two other defendants taken into custody are juveniles whose identities were not released.
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According to Bennett, the chaos stemmed from an escalating feud between two local gangs. One gang member had posted on Facebook while brandishing a gun and driving around rival territory, prompting undercover Springfield police officers to deploy to the area to head off any confrontation between the two gangs.
Two undercover detectives were parked near College and Shattuck streets when three men climbed into a nearby Honda Civic and sped toward them, Bennett said. The detectives tried to flee, but the Civic gave chase and fired rounds into their car, Bennett said.
As police responded to that scene, a white Jeep Cherokee pulled up to two other undercover detectives parked at a separate location on State Street, Bennett said. A man leaned out the passenger-side window and opened fire on their car.
The shooter then opened fire on Officer Nestor Santos, a seven-year veteran of the department who was driving to work on State Street in a similar looking car, Bennett said. Santos was struck in the face and left calf, and was transported to a Boston-area hospital for emergency treatment.
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“The likely outlook is that he will lose his eye but will survive,” Bennett said.
The Civic sped toward an I-91 interchange, where it plowed into two Massachusetts Department of Transportation workers and two other vehicles, one of which was driven by the pregnant woman. The suspects fled down a 30-foot embankment toward the Connecticut River, where police found and arrested them, Bennett said.
One of the transportation workers was seriously injured but is expected to survive, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said.
Officers found the Cherokee parked at a home on Randall Place, where Griffin allegedly helped its occupants to flee and hide weapons.
At the two locations of the arrests, police found an AR-style rifle and six handguns with high-capacity magazines, including two that were modified to be fully automatic, Bennett said.
At least two of the defendants, Griffin and Clarke, have previously faced gun charges. Gulluni said outside the courtroom Friday that city residents are fed up with street violence, and blamed a small percentage of young people who have “no respect or fear” of law enforcement.
“They are beyond frustrated with the constancy of violence, hearing gunshots at night, seeing the same individuals on their street corners, and frankly feeling unsafe in their neighborhoods on their own streets,” Gulluni said. “It’s unfair.”
Gulluni said he will seek maximum sentences and wants the juvenile suspects tried as adults.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Friday, more than 60 Springfield police officers filed in to the courtroom to watch the hearing, some filling rows of benches and others standing two rows deep in the back. Bennett, the prosecutor, asked Judge Kevin Maltby to hold the three of the men without bail — Griffin and Torres on felony firearms charges, and Font on a charge of assault with intent to murder.
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Kedar Ismail, Torres’s defense attorney, said his client maintains his innocence and that he had no further comment.
The shooting was the latest in a run of violence that has shaken this Western Massachusetts city. As homicides in big cities, including Boston and Worcester, dropped last year, the number of murders in Springfield spiked to a record high.
And in recent months, undercover police officers have found themselves targets of the violence.
In the early morning of March 1, the driver of a stolen car allegedly fired at Springfield officers who were following in an unmarked cruiser. And in May, a juvenile in a stolen car on Franklin Street allegedly fired at two plainclothes detectives.
“A lot of times we hear, ‘Well, they might not have known they were undercover police officers,’” Bennett said at the hearing. “I don’t know if it’s worse — that they’re deliberately firing on undercover police officers, or if they’re firing on any car that’s suspicious to them.”
Griffin pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor firearms charge in 2022. He was facing additional firearms charges this year, but the case was dismissed after a judge ruled officers wrongly searched him without probable cause.
Clarke was scheduled to stand trial on firearms charges last June in Hampden Superior Court. But while out on $10,000 bail, he allegedly cut his court-ordered GPS bracelet and dropped off law enforcement radar. There has been an open warrant for his arrest since May 2023.
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Gulluni said he has spoken on the phone to Santos’ family and offered his support.
“They’re emotional,” Gulluni said. “He’s going to be dealing with some very serious injuries for the rest of his life.”
Santos was one of four officers awarded the Springfield Police Department’s Medal of Valor last year for “actions in life-threatening situations,” the department said in a news release. The award was for his role in apprehending a suspect who shot an officer with a flare gun and continued to fire it in public and at officers and troopers.
Prior to joining the Springfield police force, Santos worked for the Webster Police Department. While serving in that role, he was recognized for helping save a 10-year-old boy who fell unconscious after suffering a suspected asthma attack.
Dan Glaun can be reached at dan.glaun@globe.com. Follw him @dglaun.
