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‘Our friend, someone’s father and someone’s husband’: GoFundMe seeks to support family of bystander killed in Holyoke Mall shooting

"Trung (Michael) was a hardworking, lovely employee, who always made sure not only his customers but his coworkers were ok."

Trung Tran. GoFundMe

January 31, 2023

A Holyoke Mall business has launched a GoFundMe to support funeral costs for its 33-year-old employee who was reportedly killed as an innocent bystander during a shooting at the shopping center Saturday night.

Trung Tran, known as Michael, was “not only our coworker, but our friend, someone’s father and someone’s husband,” a statement by A Touch of Beauty Hair & Nails Spa noted on the GoFundMe page.

“This has been very hard on all of us,” the statement read. “Trung (Michael) was a hardworking, lovely employee, who always made sure not only his customers but his coworkers were ok.”

Holyoke police received an influx of calls Saturday around 7 p.m. about an active-shooter incident at the hair and nail spa, located in the mall at 50 Holyoke St., Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni’s office noted in a statement.

Kenneth Santana-Rodriguez, 23, of Springfield, has been charged with murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. – Hampden District Attorney’s Office

Tran, who was working at the time, is believed to have been taking care of the suspect at the salon when another person, who knew the suspect, walked into the spa and confronted the suspect, according to police.

The two argued and the situation escalated into a shooting, police said.

Amid the altercation, Tran, a West Springfield resident and a bystander in the incident, was fatally shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Kenneth Santana-Rodriguez, 23, of Springfield, was arrested without incident and charged with murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

Tony Vo, the salon’s manager, told The Boston Globe that Tran, a hardworking technician, was a loving husband and father to a 7-year-old boy.

“Family was everything that mattered,” Vo said of Tran in a phone interview with the newspaper.

The homicide investigation remains ongoing.

Santana-Rodriguez pleaded not guilty in Holyoke District Court this week, the Globe reported.

He was ordered held without bail, the district attorney’s office said. He is due back in court Feb. 27.

“Hampden District Attorney Antony Gulluni expresses his sympathies to Mr. Tran’s family,” the district attorney’s office noted on Facebook.

Holyoke Mayor Joshua A. Garcia shared the statement from the district attorney’s office on his Facebook page, adding “My sincerest condolences to the friends and family of Mr. Tran.”