May 22, 2026 – Springfield, Massachusetts – Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni has announced that Kenneth Santana-Rodriguez, 27, of Springfield, has pleaded guilty to Involuntary Manslaughter in connection with a fatal shooting that occurred inside the Holyoke Mall on January 28, 2023. 

On Thursday, May 21, 2026, the defendant was sentenced to three to five years in state prison. 

At approximately 7 p.m. on Saturday, January 28, 2023, the Massachusetts State Police and Holyoke Police Department responded to a shooting incident that occurred at the Holyoke Mall inside the Touch of Beauty Hair & Nail Salon. 

Upon arrival, the defendant was located inside of the salon and taken into custody without incident. He was discovered to be in possession of a Glock 9mm firearm, holstered on his hip, with a 10-round capacity magazine and eight rounds of ammunition remaining.

Responding officers also located the victim, 33-year-old Trung Tran, suffering from a gunshot wound. Tran was pronounced deceased on scene.  

After being taken into custody, Santana-Rodriguez told officers that he was the person responsible for the shooting and that he had an active license to carry (LTC) for a firearm, which was later confirmed by investigators. 

Through the defendants’ initial statements and more than a dozen witnesses at the salon, it was discovered that Santana-Rodriguez was getting a pedicure with his girlfriend when a male party – later identified as Irving Sanchez – unknown to the defendant approached him and an argument ensued. It is alleged that Sanchez, the supposed ex of Santana-Rodriguez’s girlfriend, lifted his shirt to reveal a portion of a firearm. The defendant then produced his own firearm in an act of self-defense. However, Tran was fatally struck, and Sanchez fled the scene before officers arrived.

Sanchez was later arrested on February 10, 2023, in Springfield on unrelated firearm charges, but was uncooperative with investigators regarding the shooting. 

Santana-Rodriguez has remained in custody since the incident and was originally charged with Murder, because at the time, the state of Massachusetts did not recognize “Transferred Intent in Self-Defense,” as a legal theory. 

Transferred Intent in Self-Defense is a legal principle that allows a person’s lawful use of self-defense against an aggressor to extend to an unintended victim, such as a bystander, if that person is accidentally or recklessly harmed instead.

In this case, the attorney representing Santana-Rodriguez filed a motion to dismiss the Murder charge. The motion was denied because Transferred Intent Self-Defense was not yet recognized in the Commonwealth. The Hampden District Attorney’s Office agreed to jointly report this matter to the Massachusetts Appeals Court as a matter of first impression regarding potential application of Transferred Intent Self-Defense, and the case was taken by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the District Attorney’s Office’s request. 

As a result of this case, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided that Massachusetts should have a limited theory of Transferred Intent Self-Defense, and held that this, among similar fact patterns moving forward, could only amount to Involuntary Manslaughter rather than Murder, and only if the accidental killing was reckless. The Court held that the killing of an innocent bystander in these circumstances that was merely negligent would not be a crime.

The victim’s family, while not present for the plea, was kept informed throughout the process. The family accepted the ruling and did not oppose the plea and outcome.

The Commonwealth was represented by Assistant District Attorneys Matthew Green and David Sheppard-Brick, and Victim Witness Advocate Lauren Counter.