New Haven Independent

Police: Cop’s Gun Used In 5 Shootings

by Melissa Bailey | September 30, 2009 1:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

(Updated) A Waterbury cop turned himself in Wednesday on charges that he stockpiled explosives in this Westville home — and that several of his guns turned up in criminals’ hands on New Haven streets.

Sgt. David Setzer, 41, of the Waterbury police department, turned himself in to New Haven police headquarters around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, police spokesman Officer Joe Avery said.

Setzer was charged with: seven counts of illegal transfer or sale of a firearm, and one count each of: manufacturing a bomb, illegal possession of explosives, illegal possession of an assault weapon, risk of injury to a minor and illegal possession of fireworks. He was released after posting a $50,000 bond and is due in court Thursday.

Cops served a search warrant on Setzer’s Davis Street home on Aug. 17, according to Waterbury police Lt. Chris Corbett. The bomb, fireworks and risk of injury to a minor charges stem from that raid, Corbett said.

The raid was the third time in two months that cops have found illegal weapons stockpiled in a quiet, middle-class New Haven home.

Other charges stem from seven missing guns registered to Setzer — at least two of which were recovered at crime scenes, according to Avery. All guns were privately owned.

“Setzer never made a stolen gun report and could not explain where his guns were — or how they ended up in the hands of convicted felons,” Avery said in a press statement Wednesday.

Setzer, who has 18 years on the Waterbury police force, has been on paid leave since late July and turned in his departmental gun and badge, Corbett said. He said New Haven cops approached Waterbury police in June and informed them of a criminal probe. Waterbury has been assisting New Haven in the criminal probe, and is conducting its own internal affairs investigation, Corbett said.

The investigation stemmed from an incident in late May when cops found a gun registered to Setzer in the hands of a convicted felon, Corbett said. The felon was arrested. At that point, it appeared that the gun may have been an oversight — Setzer may have sold the gun a few years ago but not followed through on paperwork, Corbett said. But as the investigation continued, it appeared the offense was worse.

Later this summer, cops found another gun at a crime scene. The 40-caliber Sig Sauer pistol also belonged to Setzer. The pistol was used in five New Haven shootings in the past nine months, Avery said.

One of the five shootings was a gun battle on Dec. 13, 2008 at Humphrey’s East, where New Haven cops exchanged gunfire with unnamed suspects, Avery said. Other shootings took place at: Davenport and Ward on April 15; Cedar and Portsea on April 19; outside 85 Ward St. on June 4; and at 540 Howard Ave. on June 9.

Bullet casings from all five shootings matched the cop’s gun, Avery said. Setzer declined to explain how his gun ended up in the hands of the criminals at those shootings, Avery said.

In total, police found seven guns registered to Setzer had gone missing. Lieutenant Kenneth Blanchard and Detective Annemarie LaPorta investigated the case.

No one at the Setzer residence answered the door Wednesday morning.

Carmen Carr, who has lived across the street from Setzer for three years at 82 Davis St., said that she didn’t know him, other than that he was a cop.

“I thought he was kind of protecting us,” she said. She said that he lived upstairs from his parents in the big blue house on the corner of Davis and Fairfield Streets.

Thomas MacMillan contributed reporting.

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Comments

Posted by: streever | September 30, 2009 2:06 PM

Wow. Good work nhpd.

Posted by: Happy Citizen in Westville | September 30, 2009 3:20 PM

Good job Chief Lewis and the NHPD

Posted by: Jon Doe | September 30, 2009 4:46 PM

Great Job Chief Lewis and NHPD. I just Hope Chief Lewis stays when his contract is up at the end of the year. Under his leadership NHPD has done a lot of good work but so much more needs to be done here in New Haven.

I just Hope the Police Unions across the country stop protecting these bad cops and Help get ride of them. This way all the good work by good cops will shine.

Posted by: nfjanette | September 30, 2009 4:59 PM

The raid was the third time in two months that cops have found weapons stockpiled in a quiet, middle-class New Haven home.

This wording incorrectly implies there is a problem with a collection of weapons. Many lawful, upstanding citizens have collections of weapons used for hunting, target shooting, historical interest, and personal protection. The problem in the first case was the alleged public threats by the owner and violations because of state laws that outlawed previously legal rifles (which are legal on the national level). The problems in this case are the allegation of existence of explosives and the implied illegal transfer of weapons.

Posted by: Norton Street | September 30, 2009 5:12 PM

So much for New Haven being a crime plagued city over run with criminals, seems like its really just one convicted felon running around doing all the shooting.

Posted by: Consti2amend | September 30, 2009 11:56 PM

This is really good detective work! Great job NHPD! It must be tough to have to arrest one of "your own". But that is part of the job.

Thanks for watching out for the citizens of New Haven.

Posted by: Unpromoted | October 1, 2009 8:25 PM

A Sargeant! The rank is significant. What does this say about Waterbury promotion criteria?

Posted by: ATF | October 1, 2009 10:17 PM

West Hartford P.D. transfered guns without any paperwork for years and the Chief knew it and did NOTHING. ATF was notified and said it was no big deal???

Posted by: Edward_H | October 2, 2009 8:44 AM

Norton Street

So much for New Haven being a crime plagued city over run with criminals, seems like its really just one convicted felon running around doing all the shooting

Or it could be more than one criminal with access to the same weapon or each time the weapon was used the shooter then sold or gave it to another criminal. There is not enough information in the article to come to any conclusion.

Posted by: ladyfoxy | October 3, 2009 8:16 AM

My opinion is that an individual/person is innocent until proven guilty.. The news never reports both sides of the story. It is always one sided and in this case this is what is going on. I have know Sgt. Setzer for many years and he has been an outstanding model for the community.. He is the type of person that really cares in putting bad guys away and in protecting his community. This is a misunderstanding that will definitely be cleared away. Furthermore being the owner of numerous guns is not a crime because the constitution gives us such a right. I could also understand how people will see or judge him from what is being read but believe it or not-- like i said before "a person is innocent until proven guilty"

Police: Cop’s Gun Used In 5 Shootings

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