New Haven Independent

Pedro Colon and Josh Smercynsky handled the two cases this weekend.

Here’s what happened, according to District Manager Lt. Rebecca Sweeney:

The first incident occurred around 1 a.m. Saturday. Colon and Smercynsky were on Huntington Street investigating a domestic call. A sister had hit a brother with a bottle.

While there, the cops heard a series of gunshots nearby, at the intersection of Read and Shepard. (Click here and here to read about two other recent incidents there.) By the sound of the shots, the officers could tell that two different guns were in use.

They rushed over and found a group of teens. The teens ran, jumping over fences. The officers didn’t catch the kids. But they did recover two guns the kids threw on the ground: .38 and a .45.

Later that night they did catch up with two juveniles suspected to have been involved, but no positive identification has been made yet. The guns were neither reported stolen, nor registered. The cops are continuing to investigate the case.

During the chase, a neighbor called in to the police to report the incident. Sweeney took heart in that: the police have been urging Newhallville neighbors to report crimes more often. “We almost never get [a call like] that,” Sweeney said Monday. “That was incredible. They’re helping us. We’re optimistic.”

(A warrant is pending for the arrest of the sister who hit the brother with the bottle in the other incident. Both siblings are in their teens.)

Colon and Smercynsky were back on the beat Saturday night. Around 9 they got a call from a 15 year-old and his father. The 15-year-old said he’d been at Dixwell Avenue and Cherry Ann Street when a boy came up to him, stuck a gun in his side, and commanded, “Run your pockets.” (Translation: Give me your money.)

The officers put out a description of the suspect, then found him themselves shortly afterwards, on the street. The suspect, who’s also 15, was arrested on robbery charges and sent to the juvenile jail on Whalley Avenue.