One by one, through anger and tears, the speakers at Sunday's peace rally shared the same message: the violence needs to stop, and the guns have to go.
Johnluis Sanchez, charged with murder in connection with a gunfight that wounded a pregnant woman as she was riding on a bus and led to the death of her unborn baby, is due in Holyoke District Court on Friday.
The woman, who remains critically ill in hospital, was hit when a gunfight erupted outside a busy market in the center of Holyoke just before 12.40pm on Wednesday.