SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — Police have identified the suspect accused of shooting a Massachusetts State Trooper on New Years Eve as 31-year-old Christopher Gardner of Springfield.
The incident happened around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday night. According to State Police, the trooper was responding to an alert for shots fired near the area of 195 Nursery Street.
A preliminary report shows that a bullet pierced through the trooper's cruiser before hitting the responding officer in the leg.
A Springfield police officer provided emergency medical aid-on scene until a second Trooper arrived on scene and transported the wounded trooper to Baystate Medical Center. The trooper was said to be "conscious and alert" before being transported to a local hospital.
The trooper was treated for non-life threatening injuries, and was released on Friday morning. The department said the officer is a newer recruit who graduated from the State Police academy in May.
Gardner is charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to muder, assault and battery by discharging of a firearm and three more additional charges. He was held at the Barracks through the night and transferred to the House of Correction in Ludlow and is being held on $150,000 cash bail.
He will be arraigned Monday in Springfield District Court. Invetsigators recovered two handgus from the area of the shooting, and interviewed multiple potential witnesses.
A preliminary investigation indicates that around 11:17 p.m., Garder exchanged gunfire with another man that he was involved in an altercation with in a parking lot near the intersection of Nursery and Stafford streets. The investigations into both shootings is ongoing.
WBZ NewsRadio's Shari Small (@ShariSmallNews) reports.
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