Wareham Man Charged with Attempted Murder in Syracuse Bus Station Shootings

An East Wareham man faces attempted murder charges after two people were shot and injured early Sunday at a bus and train station in Syracuse, New York.

A passenger and a security guard at the Regional Transportation Center in Syracuse were victims of the overnight shooting, Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s office told Syracuse.com.

Andrew Booker, 31, of 6 Bartlett Lane, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and criminal possession of an illegal handgun, and was arraigned today. Booker pleaded not guilty and a judge at the Onondaga County Justice Center ordered him held for a psychological evaluation.

After arriving at the station on a bus, Booker allegedly fired a .25-caliber automatic handgun at a person who fled, but the gun misfired. Booker then allegedly fired twice again, hitting a passenger in the leg and a security guard in the stomach. The guard was transported to a Syracuse hospital, and is expected to survive. The passenger was treated at a hospital and released. Booker surrendered to police after a sheriff’s deputy fired at him and missed, Fitzpatrick told local news sources.

Booker's previous claim to fame is that he was assaulted in 2014 by former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez. It happened while the two were in jail together at the Bristol County House of Correction in North Dartmouth, the Herald News reported at the time. Booker was being held on drug and weapons charges out of New Bedford. Hernandez, who was later convicted of murder, died of an apparent suicide in April 2017.

Officials confirmed that the man allegedly assaulted by Hernandez six years ago is the same man arrested Sunday in connection with the train station shootings. Booker reportedly has a lengthy criminal history in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Booker was one of three local men arrested by Wareham police in March and charged with breaking and entering into a building during the daytime with intent to commit a felony, larceny from a building, vandalizing property, disorderly conduct, and disturbing the peace.