Thomas Breen photo
Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez and Mayor Elicker on Tuesday.
A 44-year-old Waterbury man was shot and killed Tuesday morning near Orchard Street and George Street — becoming the second person murdered in the city in four days, and just the latest victim of a recent surge in local gun violence.
Acting Police Chief Renee Dominguez, Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson, and Mayor Justin Elicker hosted a press conference at police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. Tuesday afternoon to talk about the early morning shooting death of Jack Hopeton.
They also spoke about a five-day spree in gun violence across New Haven, and about the city’s various attempts to quell that violence through a mix of law enforcement, violence prevention, and rehabilitation.
“These homicides are destroying our communities,” Elicker said.
“We need the help of the community to stop this violence,” said Dominguez.
Police HQ at 1 Union Ave.
In regards to this most recent city shooting death, Dominguez said that, at roughly 5:52 a.m. Tuesday, police were alerted via ShotSpotter and 911 calls about gunshots fired near Orchard Street and George Street in the Dwight neighborhood.
Responding officers located an unresponsive male with gunshot wounds at the scene, she said.
That man was later identified as Jack, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
While Jack’s last known address was in Waterbury, Dominguez said, “he does have family ties to New Haven.”
“It’s still in the very early stages of the investigation,” the chief said. “We are still on scene, doing further canvasses, gathering further information.”
She asked anyone with any information, no matter how small, to call the city’s anonymous tip line at 1 – 866-888‑8477.
Jack’s death marked the second fatal shooting in four days in New Haven.
On Saturday at around 7:39 p.m. on Sheffield Avenue in Newhallville, 20-year-old Bridgeport resident Mariyah Inthirath was shot and killed.
Police are still investigating the case, Dominguez said, and have received helpful information from members of the public.
Chief Dominguez (in white) with Asst. Chief Jacobson and Mayor Elicker before the presser.
While Jack and Inthirath both died from their shooting injuries in the city over the past four days, Dominguez and Jacobson said, they aren’t the only people to be struck by bullets in New Haven in the last week.
At around 1:28 a.m. Tuesday morning in the area of Putnam Street and Cedar Street in the Hill, Dominguez said, a 20-year-old man was shot in the right upper leg.
On Monday at around 11:11 a.m. on Woodward Avenue in the Annex, a 21-year-old city resident was shot in the left leg.
And last Friday, a 24-year-old city resident was shot and injured on Kossuth Street in the Hill.
“We have seen over the past six days a substantial increase in violence,” Dominguez said.
Even though city police have seized seven guns since last Thursday, have seized a total of 61 guns and made 63 related arrests since the start of the year, and have removed an additional 130 guns from city streets thanks to a recent gun buyback event, New Haven has still seen a sharp uptick in violence this year.
“It’s just a tragic turn of events,” Dominguez said about the involvement of so many people in their early 20s in these most recent shootings. She pointed to the isolation, unemployment, mass uncertainty and trauma of the Covid-19 pandemic as likely contributing to the rise in street violence not just in New Haven, but in cities across the country.
Last year saw the worst violent crime in New Haven in nearly a decade, with 20 homicides, 121 non-fatal shooting victims, and 274 confirmed shots fired.
What’s The City Doing To Stop The Violence?
Mayor Elicker.
Elicker, Dominguez, and Jacobson outlined a handful of initiatives the city is pursuing to try to clamp down on current violence, and prevent more from happening as the summer approaches.
Elicker said the city’s response to violent crime consists of three components: “law enforcement, violence interruption, and rehabilitation.”
The first refers to city partnerships with state parole and probation offices, the beefing up of a shooting task force to work cold cases, and increased police presence in the form of walking beats in targeted areas. The second refers to increased city support for street outreach worker programs and for current violence prevention efforts like Project Safe Neighborhoods and Project Longevity. And the third involves opening up a dedicated reentry welcome center on Grand Avenue to provide a one-stop shop for the 900 people who return to New Haven from prison every year to connect to resources related to work, housing, and medical treatment.
Asst. Chief Jacobson.
Jacobson (pictured) said that the shooting task force currently consists of two city detectives, two city police officers, two Yale police officers, and one state Department of Correction intelligence officer. The city is also working on memoranda of understanding (MOUs) with police departments in West Haven, East Haven, Meriden, and Hamden to beef up that shooting task force and ensure that the investigative body can track cases on a regional basis.
That task force’s mission is to “work cold cases,” Jacobson said, by looking at shots fired that may not have struck anyone and that have not yet led to any arrests.
Jacobson also touted the imminent launch of a new crime gun intelligence center, funded with the support of a $750,000 federal grant the city recently received. He said that program will allow the city to bring bullet shell casings directly from the scene of a shooting to a state lab and get results within 48 to 72 hours about whether or not the weapon that fired those bullets was also used in another city shooting incident. Right now, the city has to wait two to three months to get that kind of information, he said.
Saturday’s homicide was the 11th so far in 2021 in New Haven.
In January, Alfreda Youmans, 50, and Jeffrey Dotson, 42, were found dead by the police inside a Winthrop Avenue apartment, Jorge Osorio-Caballero, 32, was shot and killed in Fair Haven, Marquis Winfrey, 31, was shot and killed in Newhallville, and Joseph Vincent Mattei, 28, was shot and killed in the Hill. Someone shot Kevin Jiang, 26, to death in Goatville on Feb. 6. Angel Rodriguez, 21, was shot to death in Fair Haven in mid-February, his body dumped by the Mill River in East Rock. Dwaneia Alexandria Turner, 28, was shot to death in the Hill on March 16 during an argument with two other women. On March 26, Alessia Mesquita was shot dead in Fair Haven. And on Saturday, 20-year-old Bridgeport resident Mariyah Inthirath was shot and killed on Sheffield Avenue in Newhallville.
Too much anger. Too little respect for life. And in the end far too much sorrow and pain.
Out of respect, may one ask the usual folks to abstain from comments about the police, the laws restricting their use of force, the mayor and the frightened people who do not dare say what they saw?
Thank you.