A man has been arrested on a warrant charging him in a shooting that injured two people last summer at the Caribbean Festival in Worcester, Massachusetts, police said Tuesday.
Chequan Griswold, 24, of Boston, was arrested on Dec. 29 in connection with the shooting at Institute Park near Worcester Polytechnic Institute on Aug 27, 2023. He is charged with armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, carrying a firearm with an FID/LTC, and other firearms charges.
Police said officers at the Caribbean Festival heard gunshots from the area of Salisbury Street and Boynton Street, causing a chaotic scene when the large crowd was trying to run to safety.
Two victims — a 15-year-old and a 23-year-old — were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
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Another suspect, identified as Omar Molina, was arrested in September in Holden.
Molina faces charges of armed assault with intent to murder, carrying a loaded firearm without a license and firing a gun within 500 feet of a dwelling.
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Festival attendee Nigel Richards told NBC10 Boston he heard at least give gunshots before the music stopped.
"Everything was going good and then things just spiraled out of control," he said. "I seen the whole crowd just started charging backwards, everybody else started following them. And that's all it took, everything started shutting down."
WPI released a statement saying no students, faculty or staff were involved with or hurt as a result of the incident.
"While this situation did not take place on our campus, our hearts do go out to those who were injured or otherwise impacted," WPI's statement read.
According to police, both shooting victims appear to be innocent bystanders who were unrelated to the dispute and were not intentionally targeted.
It was not immediately clear if Griswold had an attorney.
