A man stalked into his neighbour's Massachusetts home Monday and fatally gunned down a grandmother in front of her three grandkids before injuring two of the children and turning the gun on himself.
Officers with the Springfield Police Department responded to a home in the area at around 2.40 pm after reports of shots fired, the Hampden District Attorney’s Office has confirmed.
At the scene, officers immediately found Victor Nieves, 34, dead on the floor and would soon after find 52-year-old Kim Fairbanks dead along with a dead dog. Three children, aged 12, 10 and 5, were also shot.
Authorities found a grandmother and her dog dead at the scene. They also found three grandkids, two who had been injured in the shooting (NBC10 Boston)Paramedics rushed to the scene and hurried the children to the Baystate Medical Centre, with officers blocking off the street to assist the ambulance in reaching the hospital as fast as possible.
Neighbors described the horror of witnessing the little children come out of the home after initially believing that the gunshots were firecrackers. "And that’s when we saw the children coming out bloodied and I lost it," Selena Coppedge told NBC10 Boston.
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The 10-year-old girl who was shot had to be air-lifted to Boston Children's Hospital, and remains in critical condition, the release states. Her sister, a 12-year-old girl, was also shot but remains at Baystate in stable condition. The smallest of the three, a five-year-old boy, was found to have been unharmed in the tragic incident.
An investigation into the horrific shooting found that Nieves lived in a unit upstairs while the family lived downstairs. He is said to have forcibly entered the family's home through the front door before shooting the family, ultimately ending his terrible rampage by shooting himself. The victim was the grandmother of the three children.
Police blocked off the streets so that the ambulance carrying the children could get to the local medical centre (NBC10 Boston)“I remain deeply saddened by this tragic attack and I am profoundly sorry for these children and their family members," Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni stated in the release.
"This is unequivocally one on the most heinous and cowardly acts to which I’ve had to bear witness as District Attorney.
"My heart goes out to the parents of these children and the family and loved ones of Ms. Fairbanks. As investigators, we will do everything we can to support this family as we move forward and close the criminal investigation.”
Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni speaks with local press about the horrific shooting (Springfield Police Department)Springfield Police Superintendent Cheryl C. Clapprood, who has had "forty plus" years with the department, described the tragedy as "one of the most heart-wrenching incidents I can remember."
"I am extremely proud of my officers who were the first responders that were able to get these children to Baystate as rapidly as they did," he added. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
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