Melissa Bailey Photo
Lt. Luiz Casanova on the scene.
(Updated 6 p.m.) A rivalry between people in two passing cars erupted into gunfire on a quiet East Rock street Friday afternoon, leaving one man dead.
It happened at around 3:40 p.m. on Edwards Street between Orange and Livingston, near the “speed table” recently installed by the city.
A male victim, about 23 years old, was shot in the chest, according to police spokesman Officer Dave Hartman. He was rushed to the hospital and pronounced dead shortly after 5 p.m.
The incident is the city’s 29th homicide of the year.
The act of gun violence, rare for that neighborhood, drew a rush of about 20 police cars to Edwards Street by 4 p.m., a busy hour of pedestrian, car and bike traffic on Orange Street. Police cordoned off the area with crime scene tape, as bicyclists craned their necks to see what was going on.
Officer Hartman said according to preliminary information, there appears to have been a confrontation between two groups of people in two different cars, traveling in opposite directions on Edwards Street.
The occupants of the cars were involved in a dispute, Hartman said. “It did not originate at this location, but while traversing this quiet street [it] erupts in gunfire.”
The cars met near the speed table, where one car blocked the other.
“Occupants got out of one car, challenging occupants of the other vehicle,” according to Hartman. “There’s some type of fight in the street.” The fight began as a fist fight. Then “one of the people pulls out a gun and shoots the victim.”
Cops escorted Edwards Street neighbors back to their home.
The victim was shot in the chest, according to Hartman. Police did not release his name pending family notification.
After the shooting, the parties got back in their vehicles and sped off, leaving the victim behind. He was found near the curb on the southern side of Edwards Street and taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital for treatment.
Hartman said police do not know the origin of the dispute between the two groups.
“It could be—could be—an issue of road rage.”
The victim was born in 1988, making him about 23 years old.
The incident drew gasps of surprise and dismay from passersby in East Rock.
One man, who owns a house on the block where the shooting took place, said his son was visiting the home at the time of the shooting.
“My son saw the whole thing,” he said.
“It’s heartbreaking,” he said. “In this area, I just can’t believe it.” He said the homes on that block are let at “top-end rental rates.”
East Rock Alderman Justin Elicker showed up at the scene to inquire what had happened. “It’s upsetting news and a reminder of how connected we all are in the city to each other’s problems,” he later wrote in an update to East Rockers.
Andrea Robinson (pictured) was at her son’s doctor’s appointment nearby when she heard sirens. She said she thought it was a car accident.
She in her four years living in East Rock, she never experienced violent crime in the area.
“It’s extremely disquieting. It’s always been a safe neighborhood,” she said.
At around 4:45 p.m. a Yale School of Management student tried to return to her Edwards Street home and found an officer blocking her way.
“I can’t go home?” the student asked.
“Not right now,” replied Lt. Patricia Helliger.
“I’ve always felt safe” in this neighborhood, the student said later. “I’m certainly not excited to walk home to this.”
People wake up! Crime can happen anywhere!!!