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From left, in photos provided by Springfield police: Jessica Velazquez and Samuel Oquendo





SPRINGFIELD – Police said they seized a gun – one of 56 reported missing from a firearms wholesaler in Westfield two months ago – following a Sunday morning road-rage incident in which a Holyoke woman allegedly fired it into the air.

The incident occurred about 3 a.m. following a minor traffic accident on Dickinson Street in the Forest Park neighborhood, Sgt. John M. Delaney, said.

Officers Igor Basovsky, Carla Daniele and several others were summoned to the area for a report of a woman with blonde hair and a glittery skirt firing a gun, Delaney, public information officer for the department, said.

Police found a Lexus sedan with front-end damage driving up Dickinson Street, Delaney said. They stopped it and found a man and a woman with a glittery skirt inside.

After speaking with witnesses, officers determined that the car had just been involved in a minor accident, and the woman was so upset that she fired it into the air.

The other vehicle fled the scene, and the man took the handgun and stashed it in some nearby bushes, Delaney said.

Police recovered the handgun and arrested both the man and the woman.

Arrested were: Jessica D. Velazquez, 32, of 16 Alderman St. and Samuel P. Oquendo, 29, of 17 Monroe St, Holyoke.

Both were charged with carrying a loaded firearm without a license, discharging a firearm, receiving stolen property, possession of ammunition without a firearms identification card, and possession of a large-capacity firearm.

Delaney said the gun, a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol, was one of 56 guns reported as missing in June from Camfour Inc., a gun-sales company in Westfield.



Westfield police said the missing guns are part of an on-going police investigation and no other details are available.