WENDELL — One day after a woman’s shooting death on West Street, Wendell’s tight-knit community of fewer than 900 people was on edge Thursday — with the suspect still at large and a statewide manhunt underway.
Just before 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, police say, Lewis H. Starkey III, 53, shot and killed 48-year-old Amanda Glover with a shotgun in the house they shared at 179 West St.
Then, police say, he drove more than an hour to Specialized Trucking company at 215 Griffith Road in Chicopee and fired another shot through a window at a worker there, injuring the employee with debris and glass shards.
Before another shot could be fired, the gun jammed, allowing the employee to wrench it away, and Starkey fled, according to the Mike Wilk, spokesman for the Chicopee Police Department. Since then, there’s been no word as to his whereabouts.
Inside the Wendell Country Store on Lockes Village Road Thursday, and elsewhere at various public places in town, people whispered about Wednesday’s homicide but didn’t want to say anything on the record, fearing potential retaliation by Starkey.
At the Police Department, questions were referred to the District Attorney’s Office, which is leading the murder investigation but didn’t have an update about where the search stands.
A few miles away, all was quiet at the brown clapboard house where the murder took place. The house has been owned by Starkey since 1996, when his father passed it down to him, according to town records.
The property was vacant of any apparent police presence Thursday. In the driveway, a white Ford pickup hadn’t moved since the day before, beside a boat covered by tarps. Outside lights were left on in the front.
A warrant was issued for Starkey — said to be armed and dangerous — on charges of murder, assault to murder, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. As of Thursday, he was still on the loose, believed to be driving a 2013 Lincoln MKX with Vermont license plate of QLTMKR.
Wednesday, when news of the murder shocked residents in the quiet community, at the Wendell Country Store residents expressed shock to hear of the shooting. The suspect delivered liquor to the store and was a regular at the next door pub.
“He seemed like a real nice guy. I know it sounds like a cliché,” one said.
You can reach Andy Castillo
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