Targeting 'trigger pullers': WPD deploys new gun intelligence unit in response to recent wave of gun violence

Correction: When asked if the city of Worcester has a gang problem, Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier said the “trigger pressers” in the wave of recent shootings are not all gang-affiliated. An earlier version of this story omitted the word "all."

WORCESTER — In response to a recent wave of gun violence on city streets, the Police Department has launched the Crime Gun Intelligence Unit.

Interim Police Chief Paul Saucier said the unit is an initiative he has been looking into implementing since he was put in charge of the department in September.

“It’s a small segment of our population that are trigger pullers, that are out there doing this,” Saucier said. “And our job is find them and put them in prison and that’s what we’re going to do.”

For the new crime-fighting initiative, the department has been working with the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Saucier said. The department is also working with the offices of the U.S. Attorney and Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.

“We’re hoping this is going to have a deterrent effect,” Saucier said. “We’ve always investigated gun crime. But now, we can really zoom in to one investigation at a time and hopefully remove the person and the weapon from the street.”

The Worcester County District Attorney’s office has assigned two assistant district attorneys to assist with the Crime Gun Intelligence Unit.

“We know when it comes to violence, illegal guns are a game changer. We remain committed to addressing and reducing gun violence by working with our law enforcement partners, especially our partnership with the Worcester Police Department,” Early said. “Our prosecutors also will continue to seek to hold all suspects in gun cases without bail by requesting dangerousness hearings…It is our hope that these combined efforts will make Worcester a safer city.”

Saucier: Five officers 'an all-star team'

Five police officers are assigned to the unit.

“They’re some of the guys that got the most guns off the streets. So now we’re putting them all together like an all-star team,” Saucier said.

“It says to the people on the streets that we’re serious about this. You can’t be able to just go around firing guns indiscriminately in the streets.”

The department will continue to rely on the ShotSpotter system, which helps pinpoint gunfire. Police say it has a 95% accuracy rate.

“Anytime a gun’s fired, it’s serious because you’re causing trauma. If there’s children in the area or elderly person hears that, it gets traumatizing,” Saucier said. “And most people do not call in a gunshot. So we wouldn’t even know to go there (if it wasn’t for the ShotSpotter)."

Referencing a ShotSpotter activation that happened around 10:15 p.m. Saturday in the vicinity of Oread Street, in which no one was injured, Saucier explained what criminals and firearms the new unit is targeting.

“This is one of those Glock switches,” Saucier said before playing on his iPhone the sound of rapid gunfire recorded from the other night. “That’s a handgun, right? And you can put this little thing on the back of it, which isn’t illegal to possess in Massachusetts right now. And you hold the trigger and you got a machine gun.”

Since the announcement of the Crime Gun Intelligence Unit, two guns have been recovered from the streets — a Glock 42, capable of holding more than 10 rounds, April 15 in the vicinity of Channing Street, and a large-capacity firearm April 17 in the vicinity of Providence Street, according to police.

Last year, up to this point, the city had one homicide by gun. This year to date, the city has four.

On April 13, Bob Nuah, 24, was shot to death on Allendale Street. To date, police have made no arrests in connection to the homicide.

On April 7, three teenagers suffered gunshot wounds on Clarkson Street. Four people, ages 18, 19, 20 and 23, were arrested for the shooting, two of them the alleged shooters. Police have reported that 45 shots were fired.

On March 5, Chasity Nuñez, 27, and her 11-year-old daughter, Zella, were killed in a car parked on Englewood Avenue when two people walked up to the vehicle and started shooting. Police arrested two men, ages 27 and 28, in connection with the double fatal shooting.

On March 4, an 18-year-old male was shot around 4:30 p.m. in the area of 2 Main St. He suffered non-life-threatening injuries. No arrest has been made in connection to the shooting.

On Feb. 12, a 17-year-old man was fatally gunned down at 14 Shannon St. A 21-year-old man was arrested in connection with the shooting, while the alleged shooter’s 18-year-old girlfriend was arrested as an accessory after the fact.

While gun fatalities are up in the city, shootings are not. Last year, up to this time, Worcester had 13 nonfatal shootings through April 22, while the city has had six nonfatal shootings so far in 2024.

When asked if the city of Worcester has a gang problem, Saucier insisted that the “trigger pressers” in the wave of recent shootings are not all gang-affiliated.

Even more alarming than the number of shooting deaths in the city in recent months is the average age of the shooter, which is 18, according to Saucier.

In addition, all the “trigger pullers” do not have a license to carry, Saucier said.

Saucier said 80% of all unlawful guns on the city streets originated out of state, while "crime guns" originating from Massachusetts is often the results of break-ins into homes and motor vehicles.

“In 2023, we had 116 guns we did confiscate (in Worcester). Three (of the guns) were involved in 21 shooting incidents. One of them had eight shots fired on it, another seven, another six. So eight distinct crime scenes from one gun,” Saucier said.  “You take one gun off the street, that one gun could have been used in 10 incidents.”

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Crime-fighting gun unit deploys by WPD in response to recent violence