Someone shot a 21-year-old man dead near the Westville Manor housing project in West Rock around 6:18 p.m. Monday, according to Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso.
The man, Deran Maebery, was shot in the torso. He was taken to the hospital, where he subsequently died, Generoso said Monday evening.
By 9 p.m., detectives had a suspect in custody: a 20-year-old New Haven man who lives near the murder scene. Police planned to charge the man with the murder.
But then they released him after learning they probably had the wrong guy.
“When we got back to 1 Union and started interviewing the witnesses, the credibility of [the key] witness was put into serious doubt,” Generoso said.
“Although no motive has been established in this senseless crime, detectives are investigating an earlier dispute that had taken place in the same location. This is not to suggest the victim had been involved in that dispute,” police spokesman Officer David Hartman stated in a release. He asked anyone with information on the case to call (203) 946‑6304.
Generoso said he is “confident” that the shooting was unrelated to the mass shooting early Saturday at the Key Club strip joint on St. John Street, in which a gunman killed a 26-year-old woman and wounded five others. That shooter remained at large as of Monday evening.
