Sturbridge hotel guest critically wounded in shooting; DA says pregnant suspect dead after shooting herself
Authorities said a woman who was eight months pregnant crashed her car into a Sturbridge, Massachusetts hotel early Thursday morning and then started shooting, critically wounding an innocent bystander at the hotel before turning the gun on herself.
Investigators said they were called to the Sturbridge Plaza Hotel at 12:55 a.m. for a report of a car driven into the building and a shooting.
"Preliminary information in this case indicates that the suspect drove to the hotel in an attempt to find two people that they knew," Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said at a news conference.
The man who was shot in the lobby was a guest at the hotel and not one of the two people that the woman, later identified as 28-year-old Olive Openshaw of Belchertown, was seeking, Early Jr. said. The man is in critical but stable condition with a gunshot wound to the torso.
"Complicated" case in Sturbridge shooting
"It all moved very quickly," Early Jr. said. "This case is very complicated."
He said Openshaw was firing shots from outside the hotel. Nobody was inside the room that the car crashed into.
Police were on the scene within five minutes and tried to talk to Openshaw, but the district attorney said she shot herself.
"A couple of commands were given by police that were very, very fast, 'put down the gun, put down the gun,'" Early Jr. said, adding that police did not fire any shots at her.
Openshaw died despite "extreme" life-saving measures taken by first responders, Early Jr. said. They did not find out she was pregnant until about 20 or 30 minutes after.
Witness Sara Gonyou told WBZ-TV she spoke to Openshaw, who was in distress before the crash and shooting. Gonyou said the woman was, "Banging and banging and banging and yelling and swearing and I'm pregnant."
Hotel guest from Scotland heard gunshots
Stuart Mackelvie, a guest at the hotel, said he just got into town from Scotland to see their next World Cup match at Boston Stadium in Foxboro Friday. He was sleeping when a car alarm woke him up.
"I heard gunshots and then I looked out the window again and a lady had driven her SUV into the side of the hotel and then she jumped out and was shouting, 'Where are you? Where are you?' and then shot three times quickly, it seemed like, into the hotel room," Mackelvie told reporters.
"Then I heard smashing glass, and I think she maybe climbed into the room and then there was loads of banging and stuff like she was trying to break a door down or something and then I called 911."
Mackelvie said several police officers and three ambulances arrived minutes later. He didn't know what happened to the woman or anyone else.
"It was terrifying. I thought I could kind of tell it was targeted. It wasn't like a random shooter wandering around the hotel," Mackelvie said.
He told reporters police knocked on every door, checked on the hotel guests and took statements from them.
"I've seen this stuff on TV, but I've never been anywhere near anything like this," Mackelvie said. "In the UK the police aren't armed routinely, the public aren't armed routinely so a domestic disturbance doesn't get to this stage."
Sturbridge, Massachusetts is 59 miles west of Boston.
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