Witness recalls shots fired incident 1,000 feet from West Springfield school

WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - In West Springfield, police arrested a man who shot a gun in a neighborhood, just 1,000 feet away from a local school Thursday morning.

One neighbor caught some of it on video and shared it with Western Mass News. She said she is still a little shaken up.

Sara Collier and her boyfriend were woken up Thursday morning to the sounds of gunshots and a man yelling.

“We heard about two or three gunshots, so we got up again. We heard this male voice screaming pretty close to our house ' someone please help me, my family is being held hostage,’” Collier said.

This all happened right in front of Collier’s home off of Piper Road in West Springfield.

Police said they were called to the scene of a family disturbance, with an armed man in crisis.

Police said the suspect, 34-year-old Michael Lyncosky was trying to run away from police.

“The officers tried to contain him to the property. The subject kept driving around the property in the field. We were trying to get him to stop and surrender,” said Sgt. Joseph LaFrance of the West Springfield Police Department.

Collier told Western Mass News he tried to get away in his pickup truck, driving right on her front yard.

“Then decided to drive across my lawn, and go around the police, and go back up Lyncosky,” she said.

Marks from this were seen in the video. At this point, she said. She said at that point, she was a little frightened.

“A little bit nervous, just when he did get into his truck and drove onto my front lawn. I thought maybe he would crash into either one of the big trees I have on my front lawn or my front porch,” Collier said.

And Police said she did have a reason to be concerned.

“Anytime someone is firing shots, people in the vicinity are in danger,” said LaFrance.

Lyncosky is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.

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