Trio Is Charged with Robbing Enfield Liquor Store at Gunpoint

A trio of Massachusetts men were arrested on robbery charges, just minutes after K & R Liquors in Enfield was robbed at gunpoint, thanks to the quick thinking of one Enfield Police officer.

It was about 2:15 p.m. March 5 when two men — one of whom was brandishing a soft air pistol — wearing ski masks entered the liquor store at 552 Hazard Ave. and demanded money, according to Enfield Police Chief Carl Sferrazza. “They went behind the counter and took money from the register and a couple cartons of cigarettes,” Sferrazza said.

The duo then fled the store and jumped into a 2010 Honda Civic bearing Massachusetts license plates, where a third man was waiting to drive off.

“Witnesses provided a description of the car and the suspects and one of the officers thought perhaps they would be going to the highway (I-91),” Sferrazza said. “The officer positioned himself near the highway and the car went right by him. He pulled it over and the three individuals inside matched the description” given by witnesses.

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The officer saw a soft air pistol sticking out from beneath a car seat and the cartons of the Marlboro cigarettes that were reported stolen, according to Sferrazza. “One of the suspects confessed,” he added.

The trio was identified as Timothy A. Ring, 30, of Springfield, MA, Robert T. Krawczynski, 28, of Ludlow, MA and Dennis Girard, 26, of Chicopee, MA. Each man was charged with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery and sixth-degree larceny. Krawczynski also was charged with illegal use of a facsimile firearm.

All three were held overnight in lieu of $500,000 bond each and were scheduled to be arraigned Friday at state Superior Court in Enfield, according to Sferrazza, who said suspect Girard “just got out of jail. He served six years for armed robbery.”

Sferrazza added, “All in all, in 15 minutes the suspects were in custody. That was a great job by our officers.” It was Officer Peter Nisyrios who staked out the area of northbound I-91 to catch the suspects.

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