Springfield man sentenced to prison for shooting cook after sandwich dispute at Holyoke bar
In December 2022, officers were called to a shooting at the Unicorn Bar on High Street around 8:45 p.m. Upon arrival, officers found 39-year-old Benito Agron, a cook at the bar, had been shot several times.
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In a news release sent to 22News from the Hampden District Attorney's Office, security footage inside the bar revealed that the suspect, 37-year-old John Brown Jr. of Springfield, was sitting at the bar talking with Agron and later received a sandwich from Agron. A verbal interaction ensued when Brown Jr. saw bacon in his sandwich. This turned into a physical fight, and as it was broken up, the DA's office says, 'Brown Jr. yelled at Agron that if he was at the bar when he returned, he would kill him.'
Approximately 30 to 40 minutes later, Brown Jr. returned to the bar and shot Agron with a handgun four times. Several witnesses identified the suspect as Brown Jr., and DNA evidence was recovered from Brown Jr.'s sunglasses, which were left at the bar during the fight.
In January 2023, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Brown Jr. on the following charges:
Murder, Attempted
Firearm, Discharge within 500 ft. of a building
Firearm in Felony, Possess
A&B with Firearm
Firearm, Carry without a License
Ammunition without FID Card, Possess
A week later, Brown Jr. was escorted into the Holyoke District Court by his father. During his trial, a Hampden County jury found him guilty of armed assault with intent to murder. On April 29th, he was sentenced to 18 to 20 years for armed assault with intent to murder, and three to five years for illegal possession of a firearm to be served after the first penalty.
'The defendant's actions were vicious and needless – an act of unadulterated violence over a disagreement about a sandwich. The victim still suffers debilitating injuries from the attack, but the fact that he survived is nothing short of a miracle. I want to thank Assistant District Attorney Tom Prendergast and Victim Witness Advocate Stacy Martel for their work on this case, as well as our law enforcement partners in Holyoke for their thorough investigation, which helped ensure justice was served,' said Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni.
WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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