On the night of July 9, 2024, gunfire was reported in the 50 block of West Street in Holyoke, Massachusetts when the city’s ShotSpotter system alerted officers at about 11:22 p.m. Police found 38-year-old Hispanic man Dexter Ortiz suffering from a serious gunshot wound; two other people were also injured, their wounds described as not life-threatening. Ortiz was taken to Baystate Medical Center, where he later died. He was a father to six children.

The Holyoke Police Department and the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit assigned to the Hampden District Attorney’s Office opened a homicide investigation with the DA’s Murder Unit assisting. By July 10 authorities had identified a suspect, 19-year-old Luis Rodriguez of Chicopee, who was arrested on motor-vehicle charges and later charged in Ortiz’s killing.

If anyone has information about what happened on West Street that night or knew Dexter, please come forward to the Holyoke Police or the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office.