GREENFIELD, FLORIDA: A Florida man, Gil L Viera, was arrested in Holyoke after allegedly shooting a Turners Falls man on Tuesday, August 29.
He was arraigned in Greenfield District Court on the following day as per court records. The accused is a resident of Sunrise, Florida, who pleaded not guilty to 11 charges during the court proceedings.
What charges does Gil L Viera face?
Judge William Mazanec III, ordered the defendant be held on $100,000 cash bail or $500,000 surety.
Viera is booked on single counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a Class A drug, possession of a Class B drug, discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building, carrying a firearm without a license, disorderly conduct, possession of ammunition without an FID card, possession of a firearm in a felony, assault, and battery with a firearm, assault, and battery causing serious bodily injury, and withholding evidence from criminal proceedings.
Joshua Hoffman, a detective sergeant with the Montague Police Department, filed a probable cause statement.
He wrote that detectives Justin Moody and Peter Lapachinski and officer Nathan Pervere found the victim and his girlfriend rendering medical aid and requesting assistance from the Turners Falls Fire Department and American Medical Response (AMR).
The team reached 11th Street in Turner Falls at 12.48 pm on Tuesday after a shooting incident was resported.
How did authorities nab the accused?
According to a witness, the suspect was headed into the woods by the Connecticut River. Hoffman and Lapachinski established a perimeter and requested a K-9 at the scene.
As per the report, there was an argument between the victim and the suspect, known to people on the scene as ‘Josh,’ who had been staying with a friend on 11th Street.
The accused, before shooting him in the left thigh, aimed a gun at his head. The victim was rushed to Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield and later to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield with non-life-threatening injuries.
Police reached out to the friend of the accused with whom he was staying since August 26. On the reclining chair where he was sleeping, police found his ID card with his name, as per Reporter.
They also allegedly found wax paper baggies, containing small rocks of a chalk-like substance, commonly seen with the packaging of heroin and crack cocaine.
