Individuals Indicted In North Adams Shooting and Clarksburg Homicide

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A grand jury returned indictments related to a shooting in North Adams on Feb. 19, which injured two people, and a murder in Clarksburg on Feb. 23.
 
Paul Starbird and Keith Larrabee, both of North Adams, were indicted in the shooting. Starbird, 20, and Larrabee, 27, are currently being held without the right to bail on District Court charges. The court arraigned Larrabee on Thursday and will arraign Starbird on June 29.
 
Starbird is facing two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and single counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, illegal possession of a firearm, and illegal possession of a loaded firearm. Larrabee is facing two counts of armed assault with intent to murder and single counts of assault and battery, illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of a loaded firearm, and assault with a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
 
North Adams Police responded to Key West Lounge on State Street at approximately 1:24 that morning for a reported shooting. Police assisted two victims suffering from gunshot wounds and Northern Berkshire EMS transported the victims to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. Starbird and Larrabee were arrested in the following days with aid of state and local law enforcement.
 
William Gingerich was also indicted on charges related to the murder of Dennis Bernardi. The 27-year-old Gingerich faces charges of murder, kidnapping, assault and battery, and larceny of a motor vehicle.
 
Gingerich is also currently detained without the right to bail. Superior Court is expected to arraign Gingerich on June 30.
 
Clarksburg and North Adams Police responded to a Clarksburg address on Feb. 23 for a well-being check and discovered Bernardi, 71, deceased. 
 
Authorities in Lewiston, N.Y., arrested Gingerich the following evening on an arrest warrant obtained by the Berkshire State Police Detective Unit. 

 


Tags: district attorney,   homicide,   shooting,   

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North Adams Hopes to Transform Y Into Community Recreation Center

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

Mayor Jennifer Macksey updates members of the former YMCA on the status of the roof project and plans for reopening. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The city has plans to keep the former YMCA as a community center.
 
"The city of North Adams is very committed to having a recreation center not only for our youth but our young at heart," Mayor Jennifer Macksey said to the applause of some 50 or more YMCA members on Wednesday. "So we are really working hard and making sure we can have all those touch points."
 
The fate of the facility attached to Brayton School has been in limbo since the closure of the pool last year because of structural issues and the departure of the Berkshire Family YMCA in March.
 
The mayor said the city will run some programming over the summer until an operator can be found to take over the facility. It will also need a new name. 
 
"The YMCA, as you know, has departed from our facilities and will not return to our facility in the form that we had," she said to the crowd in Council Chambers. "And that's been mostly a decision on their part. The city of North Adams wanted to really keep our relationship with the Y, certainly, but they wanted to be a Y without borders, and we're going a different direction."
 
The pool was closed in March 2023 after the roof failed a structural inspection. Kyle Lamb, owner of Geary Builders, the contractor on the roof project, said the condition of the laminated beams was far worse than expected. 
 
"When we first went into the Y to do an inspection, we certainly found a lot more than we anticipated. The beams were actually rotted themselves on the bottom where they have to sit on the walls structurally," he said. "The beams actually, from the weight of snow and other things, actually crushed themselves eight to 11 inches. They were actually falling apart. ...
 
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