Ludlow police praised Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet's actions as heroic, but Fitchet declined to elaborate about his role in disarming Stuart.
LUDLOW – Retired Springfield police sergeant George W. Stuart is in fair condition at Baystate Medical Center after suffering a gunshot wound to the abdomen Wednesday at the end of a 8½-hour standoff with police behind his Center Street home.
Stuart was holding the gun when it discharged, according to Hampden District Attorney Mark G. Mastroianni.
Stuart, 71, of 795 Center St., was shot just after 7:15 p.m., ending the standoff that began at 10:30 a.m. when the retired police sergeant and expert marksman is believed to have set fire to his garage before running into the woods carrying a weapon.
Springfield Police Commissioner William Fitchet and Ludlow Police Chief James J. McGowan had been part of the negotiating team trying to talk Stuart into surrendering, according to a press release from Ludlow police.
“At approximately 7:19 p.m., Chief McGowan reported that the involved subject had discharged his weapon causing injury to himself as Commissioner Fitchet bravely attempted to disarm him,” the release issued late Wednesday stated.
Retired police officer George Stuart, who was shot during an armed standoff in Ludlow Wednesday, is seen in happier times in this undated photo supplied by WSHM-TV, CBS3, Springfield.Fitchet declined to elaborate on his role in the matter when approached by The Republican three times Thursday, citing the continuing investigation by Ludlow police.
He did say the incident was handled professionally by Ludlow police over the course of the day. “Long negotiations took place. It was difficult. Unfortunately it resulted in a self-inflicted gunshot,” he said.
The shooting in the woods was the conclusion of a very long day on Center Street and unlike anything residents of the residential suburban neighborhood had seen before.
“I was dumbfounded when they said what happened,” said Jane Konderwicz, a next-door neighbor to Stuart.
It began with the 10:30 a.m. fire, which was itself just two hours after Stuart was supposed to appear at an 8:30 a.m. hearing in Hampden Probate and Family Court in Springfield as part of his ongoing divorce.
It could not be determined if Stuart had attended the hearing. His wife, Rena Brunelle, filed for divorce on June 7, citing an irretrievable breakdown of their marriage. Brunelle had apparently moved out weeks ago, according to neighbors.
Stuart, who retired from the Springfield police at the rank of sergeant in 1997, twice won the state competition as best police marksman. Since his retirement, he had run his own security alarm installation business.
Police and firefighters responding to the fire immediately requested assistance after learning that Stuart had made several suicidal threats. He was observed running off into the woods and was believed to be armed, according to Ludlow police.
Several dozen police from different local and state agencies and units responded to the scene. Among them were the Ludlow and Springfield police special response teams, Wilbraham police, and the state police airwing helicopter and the special tactics and operations unit and the negotiations unit. Also present were Fitchet and McGowan.
Fitchet and McGowan know Stuart, and they spent close to seven hours working under the direction of state police negotiator Lt. James Penniman trying to get him to surrender, according to Ludlow police.
Over that time, police blocked off a section of Center Street and Fox Hill Road off Church Street for several hours as they set up a perimeter around Stuart in the woods.
Police were releasing little information about what happened leading up to the moment where Stuart was shot.
Mastroianni, reached about an hour after the shooting, said that it was his understanding that Stuart was walking out of the woods with two police officers when he attempted to harm himself. At the time, Mastroianni conceded he had not been fully briefed on the incident and did not have all the details.
Mastroianni on Thursday morning declined to comment when approached by a reporter with The Republican.
Fitchet said he is reluctant to speak publicly about it because the matter is a Ludlow investigation and it would not look good if an officer from another jurisdiction were to speak about it to the press. “It would look like I’m trying to step on their toes,” he said.
He did offer that he was only on the scene at the request of Ludlow police after they learned Stuart was a retired Springfield police officer.
On Center Street Thursday, neighbors of Stuart expressed shock and confusion over the events from the day before.
“I can’t get over it,” said Konderwicz. Another neighbor, who also lives a short distance away from Stuart, said she knew Stuart and his wife, and she was shocked by the news.
“They were great people,” said the woman who declined to give her name. “They were loved by everybody.”
Konderwicz said the descriptions of the day’s event and Stuart’s role in them seem so unlike the neighbor she has known for years.
She said he was friendly, neighborly and generous.
“He was always very helpful to me,” said Konderwicz. “He used to snow-blow my driveway.”
Konderwicz she last spoke to him on Saturday. Her house lost power and she called to
ask if it was out at his house too.
He ended up coming over to replace a blown fuse to restore her electricity.
Konderwicz said that on Wednesday morning, her home aide noticed Stuart busy doing something in his garage.
She said the aide considered going over to Stuart’s house to ask if he needed help to repay him for fixing the fuse but decided against it because she did not want to leave Konderwicz alone.
Thirty minutes later the fire in Stuart’s garage broke out and black smoke poured out.
Konderwicz said her aide woke her up to get her out of the house. “She said ‘Get out of the house! Get out of the house!”
She said she spent much of the day seeking shelter in the restaurant across the street,
watching police in bullet-proof vests and assault rifles walking across the yard and into the woods.
She had been allowed to return to her home later in the day and was just inside when they could hear gunfire and saw many of the same police “running all over the place.”
Reporters Patrick Johnson and Peter Goonan contributed to this report.