A 37 year-old New Haven man was under police guard and in critical condition in Yale-New Haven Hospital Wednesday after an early-morning shoot-out with a cop. The cop, Paul Kenney, a 17-year veteran of the force, suffered only minor injuries. The state police are investigating. At a press conference, state police spokesman Paul Vance (at right in photo) and New Haven Chief Cisco Ortiz (center) described a bizarre incident in which the man rode on a bicycle up to the cop at a construction site and started shooting for no apparent reason.
It was the first shooting of a New Haven cop since 2002, when Officer Robert Fumiatti was shot during a drug raid in the Hill.
“We are thankful that the officer is alive,” Ortiz told reporters. “There is no doubt in my mind he wanted to kill that police officer. He tried to take his life. The bad guy was wearing a bulletproof vest. It was eccentric.”
According to Ortiz, the incident began around 1:45 a.m. at the corner of East and Water streets near Sports Haven, where crews are working on the I‑95 expansion.
The 37 year-old, who is believed to work at a barber shop in Branford, was riding his bicycle in the area. Kenney was working an extra-duty job at the construction site. Ortiz said he doesn’t think the bicyclist knew the cop. The bicyclist wore a bulletproof vest. He spoke “words of hatred” to the cop, then pulled out a gun, shot a few times, and fled, according to Ortiz.
A “Good Samaritan” offered a ride to Kenney so Kenney could chase the shooter, Ortiz said. They tracked the shooter down around the bend at Long Wharf Drive and Canal Dock Road, another I‑95 embankment which construction crews have transformed into mounds of dirt and rocks.
Ortiz (in photo) said that the suspect pulled out a gun and shot once more. Kenney fired several shots in return, according to Ortiz. He hit the gunman more than once. The gunman’s bullets didn’t hit Kenney, Ortiz said, but Kenney sustained minor leg injuries while “throwing his body around” to conceal his body from the line of fire. The officer will be on sick leave, then return to desk duty for a while.
Police arrested the gunman, who was taken to Yale-New Haven. Police recovered the shooter’s loaded gun, according to Ortiz.
“We’re optimistic he will survive,” Ortiz said. If so, police will charge him with multiple felonies.
State police were on the scene by 3 a.m. They take over investigations of shootings by cops in Connecticut as a matter of course. Sgt. Vance said they had many eyewitnesses among the construction crews. He predicted the investigation would take several weeks.
While the investigation proceeds, officials were mum on some key details for now, such as: What kind of gun it was. How many times each person shot. How many shots hit the bicyclist/gunman. What the shooter was doing there that time of night.
Vance said the shooter has a “violent” record, including a conviction and pending charges related to gun crimes.
Thankfully, Officer Kenney was not seriously injured as a result of this unprovoked attack. The courage he displayed was remarkable. And, as one of the supervisors involved in this incident, I would like to commend all of the officers and dispatchers involved for displaying professionalism and a calm, controlled demeanor in a very stressful situation. They are all a credit to their respective positions. And to all that read this; the next time you think an officer is a "little rude" toward you or looks at you suspiciously try to understand what we deal with everyday. We have no idea who is trying to hurt us, or why.