Second 13 Year-Old Falls To Feuds

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by Melissa Bailey | Jul 31, 2006 2:56 pm

(2) Comments | Commenting has been closed | E-mail the Author

Posted to: The Hill

This 13 year-old aspiring mechanic, Justus Suggs, was riding bikes with friends coming home from a carnival in the Hill when he was shot in the back of the head. Like 13 year-old Jajuana Cole, he didn’t appear to be the intended target — just another young teen caught in the crossfire of violent neighborhood feuds.

Suggs, who was in a coma and clinging to life at Yale New-Haven Hospital Monday, was shot late Saturday while leaving a carnival at Hill Regional Career High School. Police say a car pulled up behind a group of teenagers biking down Sylvan Avenue, near Orchard Street, on Saturday night and fired shots into the group. Neighbors say the teens tried to pedal away, but Suggs could not escape.

While family and friends gathered at the hospital Monday, talk of the incident echoed down porches throughout neighboring streets. The tragedy comes less than two months after Jajuana Cole was shot to death on Dickerman Street, sending shock waves through the city and setting off calls to “Stop the Violence.”

Justus’ older brother, Keith Weston (pictured), 20, stood by the family’s Davenport Avenue home Monday between visits to the hospital. He said Justus, a student at Riverside Education Academy, wanted to be a mechanic. Weston described him as a “quiet kid” who liked hanging out with friends, going fishing and fixing dirt bikes. He was already on his way to becoming a mechanic, helping fix friends’ bikes.

Justus had just finished working on a dirt bike Saturday when Weston gave him some money to go to a carnival at Career High School, just a few blocks away from their house. Justus and his friends left the carnival shortly before 10 p.m., riding on bicycles towards their homes. Weston got a call around 10 saying his brother had been shot. “At first I thought someone was playin’ around,” he said. He rushed across the city to Sylvan Avenue. “By the time I got here, there was already a crime scene.”

Police had extra-duty cops working at the carnival. One policeman saw a gunman drive up and fire shots into the group of kids Justus was riding with. At least one bullet struck Justus. By police reports, the boy does not seem to have been singled out. “I don’t know they have any reason to believe he was the intended target,” said Police Spokeswoman Bonnie Winchester.

Police followed the car as it fled the scene to the Dwight-Kensington area. The occupants ditched the car near 590 George St. and fled on foot, said Winchester. Police found a gun inside the car. Detectives were still following leads Monday and had not yet made any arrests.

Weston, Justus’ brother, has been waiting with his family since Saturday night. He said Justus is in a coma. “He can’t move.”

Over the years, the family — the two brothers live with their mother — has moved from the ‘Ville (Newhallville) to Fair Haven to the Hill. Weston sees the same feuds — “It’s neighborhoods against neighborhoods. Aint much you can do about it.” The only difference: “Now it’s not the grownups doing shootouts, it’s the kids. Now they’re shooting younger.”

The group Justus was with, including some females on the sidewalk, was all young people, said Weston. There was “no one older than 18 that was in that crowd.”

In recent months, an 18 year-old was shot just blocks away, and another 18 year-old was killed in a double shooting in the Hill’s City Point neighborhood.

Bernard Luna, who lives near Sylvan Avenue in the Hill, saw recent shootings as part of a feud between the Tre (Dwight-Kensington) and the Hill. “There’s been an ongoing beef just ‘cause of the name.” The way he understands it, the shooting was “nothing personal” against Justus. Justus was just unlucky enough to be a teen from the Hill, riding a bike through his own neighborhood.

Four teens have been arrested in connection with the shooting of Jajuana Cole. The way police tell it, that shooting happened the same way: Teens opened fire at a group of people just because the other kids were from the Tribe (Dixwell).

“The way the kids was brought up, they’re supposed to retalliate. It’s a crazy tradition, I don’t know why they carry it on,” said Luna.

Comments

posted by: Barbara Fair on July 31, 2006 4:39pm

Every story like this is heartbreaking and frustrating. Heartbreaking because another young child has lost their life to senseless violence and frustrated because i recognize what others would rather turn a blind eye to…..and that is until law enforcement and the govenrment begins an INITIATIVE to go after those providing guns to our children and does so at the fullest extent of the law, the loss of precious life will continue. Yes, There are other issues that need to be addressed but if there were no easy access to guns many of these disputes would be handled with fists. (hopefully someday they will be handled with communication.) Barbara Fair

posted by: peggy chardon on August 28, 2006 9:36am

Thank you for blessing us with your presence into our family. You are an angel that walked among us and an angel we’ll keep with us in our hearts and memories forever. Justus, you made a wonderful difference in the lives of so many people. We will love you forever.

Great Aunt
Peggy Chardon

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