UPDATE: Suspect in North Adams Walmart Stabbing Turns Himself In

Interim Police Chief Mark Bailey reported that Roland Hernandez, 41, of Pittsfield, surrendered to the North Adams Police Department on Feb. 3, 2025, around 9 p.m. He was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and was brought to Northern Berkshire District Court the following morning at approximately 10 a.m.

The incident occurred on Monday, Feb. 3, around 4 p.m. when officers responded to a fight at the department store and found a victim with stab wounds. The victim was transported by ambulance to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield.

Following the incident, police issued a BOLO (be on the lookout) for a black 2019 Hyundai Tucson registered in Massachusetts, warning officers that the suspect may have been armed with a knife. A second individual who left the scene on foot was also sought, though their involvement remains unclear.

A witness reported seeing the victim covered in blood from an apparent wound to the chest or abdomen while being treated by Northern Berkshire EMS.

Images posted to Facebook but since deleted show a white man with a mohawk hairdo with no shirt on and wearing only green pants and shoes outside the store. He's holding his hand below his neck and has blood dripping down his chest and covering his pants. He's carrying what appears to be a shirt and a coat or jacket. He's standing and walking around. 

North Adams Updated on Schools, Council President Honored With 'Distinction'

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
12:31PM / Wednesday, March 25, 2026

Superintendent Timothy Callahan gives a presentation on the school system at Tuesday's City Council meeting. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City Council got an update on what's up in the school system and its president was inducted into the mayor's Women's Leadership Hall of Fame.

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey, as the city's first woman mayor, established the Hall of Fame in 2022, during March, Women's History Month, to recognize local women who have had a positive impact on the city. Past inductees have included the council's first woman president Fran Buckley, Gov. Jane Swift and boxing pioneer Gail Grandchamp. 

 

She described President Ashley Shade as a colleague and a friend and a former student. 

 

"Ashley is known not just for her leadership, but for her compassion, her ability to listen, to understand and to stand up for those whose voices are often gone unheard," the mayor said. "She has been a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ plus community and marginalized communities at both the local and national level here in North Adams."

 

Elected in 2021, Shade is the first openly transgender person to hold the role of council president in Massachusetts. She also leads the first-ever woman majority council in the city's history. 

 

The McCann Technical School graduate also has served on boards and commissions, "always working to make our city more inclusive, equitable and welcoming," said the mayor. "Ashley not leads not only with strength, but with a heart, and our community is a much stronger place because of it."

 

Shade, wearing her signature pink suit, was presented with a plaque from the mayor designating her a "woman of distinction."