PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A city man was taken into custody Saturday morning after the Berkshire County Special Response Team had to be called out.

Police received two calls shortly before 10 a.m., one from a postal carrier who heard noises and screaming from a home at the corner of Myrtle Street and Stoddard Avenue and another from a family member.

"We're still trying to sort out what exactly occurred inside, but essentially an emotionally disturbed person, a mental health patient, with some medical history who was having a bad way and managed to get his hands on a black powder rifle," Police Chief Michael Wynn said.

"We're pretty sure it wasn't loaded, from the family, but we didn't know for certain so that necessitates a protocol."

The SRT team consists of representatives from local police departments — including Lanesborough, Lenox, Great Barrington, Adams, and Dalton — and the Berkshire County Sheriff's office.

They closed the streets and were able to make contact with the man, enter the house and defuse the situation.

"He was taken into custody without incident and is on his way to the hospital," Wynn said.

Wynn declined to name the man because the suspect was being treated as a medical patient, but said charges will likely be brought related to the domestic disturbance following an investigation.

The streets were to be reopened once the police equipment was removed. Police began leaving the area about an hour after arriving. 

"Everything went as smoothly as could be expected given the circumstances," Wynn said. "When operations go this way, we're very happy. These are the way they're supposed to go."

There were no flames but lots of heat and smoke when firefighters arrived at a mobile home fire at about 4:30 on Friday afternoon.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A mobile home engulfed in smoke and heat late Friday afternoon is considered a total loss, leaving its owners homeless.

Fire Director Stephen Meranti, speaking at the scene shortly after 5 p.m., said the fire appears to have begun in the kitchen/dining area of the home but the cause had not yet been determined.

The owners, an adult couple, came home to discover the fire. The Red Cross had been informed of their situation.

"We had a reported structure fire and we had smoke showing when we got here," he said.

White smoke was billowing from the older-model mobile home, situated on Alan Drive between Comanche and Cherokee drives and tucked in next to a line of large fir trees.

"There is extensive smoke and heat damage throughout the rest of the structure," Meranti said. "It doesn't take long for a mobile home to lose everything. It holds all the heat."

Three engines and North Adams Ambulance Service responded to the scene, along with the Fire & Alarm Division, National Grid and Berkshire Gas.

Firefighters were checking the roof and walls inside the building to uncover any hotspots and a fire watch was being set up. Most of the equipment was released from the scene by 5:30.
 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Goshen man died as a result of a blood clot caused by a gunshot wound incurred in a Pittsfield parking lot. 

Dr. Henry Nields, the state's chief medical examiner, said 29-year-old Anthony Gamache died as a result of the blood clot that, in his opinion, was caused by a gunshot wound to the leg.  

Gamache was shot in the leg in the Big Y parking lot in Pittsfield on Tuesday, Nov. 18, allegedly over a drug deal gone bad.

He was taken to Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton to seek treatment of his injury and then transported to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, from which he was treated and released. Gamache returned to his home in Goshen.  

He began experiencing pain Wednesday evening, Nov. 19.  Emergency medical technicians responded to his home and transported Gamache to Cooley Dickinson Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  

Peter J. Campbell, 18, of Pittsfield, is facing several assault charges in the shooting of Gamache and District Attorney David F. Capeless said additional charges will be forthcoming when the case is presented to a Berkshire County grand jury.  

Campbell had not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf in Central Berkshire District Court, on single counts of armed assualt with intent to rob, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building.  He is being held without the right to bail at the Berkshire County House of Correction.     
 
The investigation into the shooting is being conducted by members of the Pittsfield Police Department and state police detectives assigned to the district attorney's office.

STAMFORD, Vt. — A delivery truck driver was taken to Berkshire Medical Center's satellite emergency facility in North Adams, Mass., on Tuesday after shearing off a utility pole.

State police said Darrell Thomas, 43, of Albany, N.Y., was southbound on Route 100 at about 12:30 p.m. when he left the highway just south of Collins Road.

Investigation into the crash determined that Thomas' uniform delivery truck lost traction on the snow-covered roadway and exited the west side of the road. The truck flipped onto its right side and slid nose first into the pole, cutting it in two and causing the cab and cargo area to rip open.  

Thomas had been wearing his seat belt, which saved him from serious injury. However, he complained of neck and back pain and was taken to the emergency room.

The truck, a 2009 Freightliner, incurred extensive damage to the cab and cargo areas and had to be towed from the scene. Stamford firefighters provided traffic control; the highway was closed briefly while the truck was removed.