Man Shot In Head

A man was in the hospital with life-threatening injuries after someone shot him in the head Friday morning.

The shooting occurred near the bus stop by the old Gateway Community College building on Sargent Drive at 10:20 a.m., according to police.

Police were still piecing together what was a hectic episode mid-day Friday. Here is their preliminary version of what happened, according to police:

The shooting involved people in two different cars and multiple gunshots.

The driver of one of the cars was struck in the head by one of the bullets. He ​“got out of the car and collapsed at the scene,” according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman. The victim was taken to the hospital, where he was in critical condition as of mid-Friday.

After the victim got out of the car, a female passenger, who is 18 years old, got behind the wheel and drove to Vernon Street in the Hill. There she ​“phoned someone to report she’d been shot in the foot,” according to Hartman. Police arrived; she was taken to the hospital, where her condition is listed as ​“not life-threatening.”

At the scene of the shooting on Sargent Drive, the driver of the other car, a black Honda, sped off. A cop working extra-duty in the area heard the gunfire, called it in, then chased after the fleeing driver.

The chase coursed through the Hill. The second car crashed, and the driver fled.

Police chased after him.

Three public schools in the vicinity went into lockdown.

The driver of Honda, who is 25, had been shot, too. He crashed his car on Howard Avenue at Second Street. He fled the scene, broke into a empty nearby one-family home, hid, and called a relative. Police learned about the call.

Lt. Otoniel Reyes coaxed the driver into surrendering without further incident.

Because of his injuries from the shooting, the driver ​“was unable to make it downstairs. Police officers took down the back door to the home and found the driver on the second floor. Firefighters and EMTs were able to bring a stretcher to him and safely move him to an ambulance,” Hartman said. The driver was transported to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

“It was my job to defuse the situation for him in his head,” Reyes said at a press conference later Friday outside Yale-New Haven Hospital.

“There’s nothing random about this,” Police Chief Dean Esserman stressed at the press conference. Of the man shot in the head, Esserman reported, ​“He’s fighting for his life.” His condition was labeled ​“critical but stable” mid-afternoon.

Police continue to investigate; they have recovered four guns so far as well as both cars. They have two suspects in custody in addition to the three people shot; one of the suspects was caught after crossing I‑95 into a ​“marshy area,” said Assistant Chief Archie Generoso.