New Haven Independent

William Burruss, 31, and his friend Justin Davis, 24, were gunned down in a shower of bullets outside 143 County St. on Saturday at 3:45 a.m. Neighbors said Burruss and Davis were returning from a club with a friend when a shooter came looking for them. Their friend, 22-year-old Christopher Duncan, ran from the scene after being shot and survived his wounds.

Family members were still reeling Tuesday from what was described as a particularly gruesome shooting, with at least 10 to 15 bullets fired in close range. Dixwell neighbors young and old, wearing red for solidarity with the victims, hung on a chain-link fence as pastors from the Christian Community Commission’s Brotherhood Leadership Summit led a stop the violence rally at the site of the shooting Tuesday afternoon.

Eugene Brunson of Wayfaring Ministries called for an end to a no-snitch attitude that lets killers get away and is destroying the city’s black community. “We’re losing too many men,” he said.

William Burruss’ father, Michael, broke down in tears as he called for an end to the killings. “I never thought that nobody in my family would die in the streets like that, man. Not like that.”

“I lost the very essence of myself when he left me,” said William’s mother, Lynn Jones.

Click on the play arrow at the top of this story to watch video highlights of the event.

Click below for more footage of the event, prepared by Tom Ficklin: