Family of victim of deadly Springfield shooting speaks out

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - The wife of a Springfield murder victim is speaking out as one of the suspects appeared in court on Friday.

Two people were arrested and charged with murder in connection to the Belmont Avenue shooting on Monday. Christina Guzman, 32, appeared in front of a judge Friday afternoon and was ordered to be held without the right to bail. She and Rafael Calo, 37, are accused of murdering 32-year-old Justin Breitung.

“Devastating, I’ve barely slept…He was a wonderful father. He helped everyone. He loved children,” said Alicia Breitung, Justin Breitung’s wife.

Western Mass News had the only cameras rolling inside the courthouse when the victim’s wife of 17 years showed an outburst of emotion towards Guzman. We spoke with Alicia Breitung exclusively before the hearing and she told us her 14-year-old daughter had to watch her father get shot.

“They pulled out the gun and because he was standing next to our older daughter, he ran in the opposite direction of her. I’m thinking he took one in the stomach and ran behind someone’s house for cover...My oldest rushed her inside, so she didn’t see her dad laying there like that because that’s so devastating for her to be seeing that,” Alicia Breitung said.

Calo is expected to appear in court on Monday.

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