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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Williamstown READI Committee Transitions Away From Select Board

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board on Monday voted unanimously to transition the town's diversity committee away from the role it has served since its inception in 2020.
 
On a 4-0 vote, the board voted to formally dissolve the body recently renamed the Race, Equity, Accessibility, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and allow its members to work directly with the town manager to advance the issues that the former DIRE Committee addressed over the last six years.
 
When the then-Diversity, Inclusion and Racial Equity Committee was formed in the summer of 2020, it was conceived as an advisory body to the Select Board.
 
Over the years, the relationship between the Select Board and DIRE became strained, to the point where READI Committee members last year were openly discussing whether their group should remain a town committee at all or become a grassroots organization on the model of the town's Carbon Dioxide Lowering (COOL Committee).
 
"I just don't think that previous Select Boards have been the best guides in the process of getting things accomplished in the community," said Shana Dixon, who served on DIRE before her election to the Select Board last May. "Not that this panel, right now, could be better.
 
"What I'm saying is that it has been a hindrance to work under the Select Board."
 
It was not immediately clear whether the next incarnation of the READI Committee would continue to comply with the provisions of the Open Meeting Law.
 
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