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Ethan Fitzgerald, of Ludlow, is charged with murder, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, and discharging a gun within 500 Feet of a building, Springfield police said.
Authorities arrested Fitzgerald on Thursday, Jan. 25, around 10 a.m. during a sting involving multiple police agencies when they stopped him near the intersection of Jefferson Avenue and Dwight Street.
Police found the body of Dwayne Griffith, of Springfield, on Aug 12 following a ShotSpotter alert. Paramedics rushed him to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, where he later died.
Investigators linked Fitzgerald to the killing earlier this week.
Fitzgerald was out on bail at the time of the killing. He was accused of shooting a gun in the now-defunct Magic Lantern parking lot in Palmer, police said. He also has an open gun case in Holyoke.
A month after the killing, Fitzgerald was arrested and charged with possessing two illegal ghost guns, half a kilogram of cocaine, marijuana, Xanax, heroin, and more than $60,000 in cash at his apartment on Center Street, authorities said.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J Sarno said in a news release that if Fitzgerald had been kept behind bars while awaiting trial, Griffith would likely still be alive.
Simply put, if this repeat violent criminal offender had been held on any one of his prior gun related offenses, including firing a gun in public, a life could have been saved. This is a classic example of why the state needs to pass my bail reform legislation, because the current system is broken. Repeat violent criminal offenders keep on getting released back into our community. This individual is a prime example of a serious repeat violent criminal offender, whose crimes kept escalating until someone sadly got killed. The situation is frustrating for everyone involved, especially for our Springfield Police Department and our community that begs for public safety and to keep the bad guys off our streets and out of our neighborhoods.
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