Fitchburg shooting suspect captured after one killed, one critically wounded

By Kristina Rex

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    FITCHBURG, Massachusetts (WBZ) — One person was killed and another critically wounded in a shooting in Fitchburg, Massachusetts Sunday evening. Several hours later, heavily armed police took a man into custody.

Fitchburg shooting

Fitchburg Police were called to Main Street around 6:40 p.m. and found two men had been shot. Joshua Bell, 32, was rushed to UMass Memorial HealthAlliance Hospital in Leominster where he died.

The other man is in critical condition at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

Fitchburg businesses said they locked their doors as soon as they heard the shots.

“Things like this don’t really happen. Like any place I think there’s maybe, where people are, a fight that happens like once a year? But nothing to this level of violence,” business owner Jeremy Pendleton-Chow said. “I just hope it doesn’t deter people from coming out. We really want more people in downtown Fitchburg because it is like a cool place to be, it’s like an an up-and-coming little place.

Jarrod Heagarty

Police were told a suspect was in a building nearby. State and local police moved in and the man, later identified as 32-year-old Jarrod Hegarty of Townsend, surrendered hours later, around 1 a.m.

Hegarty is charged with two counts of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a firearm, and possession of a firearm without an FID card. He will be arraigned Monday in Fitchburg District Court.

One of the victims has not been identified. No other information is available at this point in the investigation.

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