Williamstown Shooting Still Under Investigation

iBerkshires.com StaffPrint Story | Email Story
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- State Police detectives continue to investigate a Sunday morning shooting on Cole Avenue, and the Williamstown Police plans a community meeting to discuss procedures when the investigation ends.
 
On Tuesday morning, WPD Chief Michael Ziemba sent a news release to update the community that while police believe there is no threat to the general public, the probe continues into a shooting at 330 Cole Ave. that sent one individual to the hospital.
 
Ziemba's news release did not indicate that any arrests have been made in the case.
 
He did provide a little more detail about the aftermath of the shooting.
 
A 10:15 a.m. call to the Williamstown Police dispatcher reported that someone had been shot at the housing complex and that, "he was en route to the hospital via personal vehicle," the release reads.
 
Later, the gunshot victim was brought from a separate location to Berkshire Medical Center by ambulance, Ziemba wrote.
 
Ziemba said he brought in the State Police Detective unit to assist the local police. Investigators determined there was no threat to the general public from the shooter and relayed that message via the town's Code Red reverse 911 system and social media.
 
"We recognize that many of you may feel unsettled," Ziemba wrote. "We also recognize that there are many remaining questions and a desire for more information in order to feel safe."
 
Ziemba said that the WPD and Berkshire District Attorney's Office will held a community meeting in partnership with the housing managers of 330 Cole Ave. after the case is concluded.
 
"This will be an opportunity to discuss how emergency situations are handled by law enforcement, how law enforcement communicates potential threats to the public and how we can all be more aware of how to report suspected crimes," Ziemba wrote.
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Coach John T. Allen Remembered for More than Just Wins

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — John Agostini says his high school football coach was the most important influence in his life except for Agostini's own parents.
 
And, like a good parent, John T. Allen knew how to push the right buttons.
 
For Agostini, that moment came not long after Allen made the Mount Greylock Regional School eighth-grader feel special by inviting him to be the only member of his class to play on the varsity team.
 
"After football season had ended, I encountered a different John Allen, an angry John Allen," Agostini recalled on Wednesday morning. "I was in the very small weight room we had at Greylock at that time. I vividly remember John Allen entered the weight room. He had fire in his eyes. And, worse yet, he had rolled up papers in his hands.
 
"The papers were a list of people who were on the honor roll. While waving those papers at me as if they were a tomahawk, he informed me that my sister's name was on that list. My name was not. Coach then proceeded to go up one side of me and down the other without giving me a chance to respond. He then stopped and, in a much calmer voice, he said something that hurt me more than anything else. He told me he was, 'disappointed,' in me. Coach Allen was not somebody I wanted to disappoint.
 
"At that moment, John Allen absolutely ruined my day. But looking back after all these years, I understand something: He may have ruined my day, but, in a very real sense, he gave me my life."
 
Agostini, a 1971 Mount Greylock graduate who served more than 20 years as a Superior Court judge, delivered the eulogy for Allen, who coached football at Mount Greylock for 39 years.
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