Warrant: Gun Dispute Preceded Teen Homicide

(Updated) The conflict that led to the killing of Daily Jackson may have stemmed, in part, from a gun allegedly stolen from the murder suspect by Uzziah Shell, a friend of Jackson’s who was killed in a separate shooting two weeks earlier.

That’s according to an arrest warrant affidavit filed by New Haven police for the 17-year-old suspect they have charged with murdering Jackson, also 17, in Newhallville in early December.

The eight-page affidavit was written by Det. Thomas Blaisdell on Jan. 10. It sheds light on how police used surveillance cameras, license plate readers and neighborhood canvasses to identify the suspect in Jackson’s murder. The Independent obtained the affidavit on Thursday, two days after city police announced the suspect’s arrest.

The suspect is currently being held on a $4 million bond, and has not yet entered pleas to charges of murder, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal possession of a pistol, and carrying a pistol without a permit. Per site policy, the Independent is not naming the suspect at this time as we have not been able to make contact with him or his attorney, and the arrest warrant affidavit does not include an interview with him.

Jackson was shot and killed at around 6:41 p.m. on Dec. 3 while walking on Shelton Avenue near Huntington Street in Newhallville. His homicide came less than two weeks after Shell, a 16-year-old fellow Riverside Academy student and friend of Jackson’s, was shot dead near Goffe and Hudson streets in the Dixwell neighborhood on Nov. 22. 

Police have said the two killings are linked but have not yet made any arrests in Shell’s case. New Haven police have also attributed both Jackson’s and Shell’s homicides to feuding youth ​“groups” but have been reticent to describe the groups as gangs, arguing they lack sufficient coordination or hierarchy.

According to the warrant, both Jackson and Shell were members of the same group, and the alleged killer ​“hated” Shell because Shell allegedly stole a gun from the suspect. Police have also mentioned a feud over a stolen dog fueled by barbs on social media as a possible factor in the two murders.

Update: Shell’s mom, Latasha Melvin, told the Independent that it is just ​“speculation” to claim that Shell’s alleged theft of a gun from Jackson’s alleged killer is related to Jackson’s death. She also pointed out that that statement is included in a warrant pertaining to an arrest made in Jackson’s homicide, as opposed to by the officers working to solve the case of Shell’s homicide.

The warrant in Jackson’s case describes how, according to surveillance footage, a Toyota Camry involved in the homicide sped off after the shooting towards Science Park. That car was reported stolen in Hamden on Nov. 3. Police found it abandoned in Fair Haven on Dec. 4.

Jackson died less than an hour after being shot, leaving his family to mourn him as a ​“beautiful spirit” and leaving the city and the public school district to grieve the violent death of another young New Havener.