Friends of “Wild Bill” Wright threw him a party the night before he was turning himself in to serve a 60-year prison sentence for killing someone. Before everyone went home, bullets would fly — and an attendee would end up in the hospital.
Details about that incident appear in an arrest warrant affidavit released Tuesday by the state.
Hamden police Detective Jomo Crawford wrote the affidavit. It was the basis for an arrest police have made of a 30-year-old New Haven man known on the streets as “Trelly” in connection with that shooting.
The party and the shooting took place at Dixwell Social Club at 940 Dixwell Ave. in Hamden around 1 a.m. back on Feb. 17. The victim was hit in the foot. The victim required two surgeries and is currently walking on crutches.
It was just one of more than 75 shootings that have taken place so far this year in southern Hamden and New Haven. Since it’s not a homicide and it didn’t happen outside a preschool, it did not attract much public attention.
It did prompt months of police investigation. Detective Crawford’s resulting report sheds light on how one of those little-noticed but pervasive shootings allegedly unfolded.
Crawford drew on footage from nearby surveillance cameras, cell phone data, and conversations with two witnesses, including the victim, to piece together his account, summarized as following:
During the Feb. 17 party for “Wild Bill,” the victim got into an argument with the sister of “Skeebo,” one of the club’s owners. The sister at one point allegedly “pushed” the victim’s face. A man named Donald stepped in and started arguing with the victim for arguing with the sister.
The victim and a friend were the last two people inside the club at closing time. As they exited, they saw people standing in the parking lot by a silver Mercedes Benz SUV and a gray hatchback. The group included Donald. It also included Trelly, believed to be associated with New Haven’s Fair Haven-based Island Brothers gang.
As the eventual victim walked past the group, someone called out their name. The victim turned around — and saw Trelly “raising a gun” toward them.
The victim claimed not to have known that Trelly was present on the property that night. The victim claimed they would have left the club if they’d known that fact. The victim knew Trelly — “a known shooter” — from Island turf. (Trelly pleaded guilty in 2013 to a felony firearms offense and received a five-year sentence, then was sentenced to two more years for violating probation, according to the state judicial database.) The victim also was friends with a man named Dallas Boomer, who was murdered by a man named Kenneth McCoy — who “is friends” with Trelly.
The victim grabbed Trelly’s gun. They “began to tussle for it.”
“[T]he gun began to fire,” and the victim let go and ran. As they ran, more bullets were fired — in the victim’s direction. The victim opened a car door, jumped inside for cover; the car’s driver drove the victim to the hospital to be treated for a gunshot wound.
In the affidavit, Crawford reported having interviewed Trelly at the New Haven Correctional Center on Whalley Avenue, where he was being held on bond in connection with unrelated narcotics offenses. Trelly admitted being present at Dixwell Social Lounge on Feb. 17. He “heard gunshots but did not see who was shooting,” and “ducked when the shooting started,” he said, according to the affidavit.
Crawford began searching his cell phone to show Trelly the surveillance video of the shooting. At that point, Trelly “said that he did not want to watch the video and that it is my job to watch the video,” and he declined to speak further, Crawford reported.
Trelly is being held on $250,000 bond in connection with this shooting case on charges of criminal attempt to commit assault, criminal possession of a firearm, reckless endangerment, illegal discharge of a firearm, and carrying a pistol without a permit.
[Editor: We never name the accused unless we have their side; there's been a conviction; there's an immediate threat to public safety; or a public figure is involved, like a mayor or high-ranking officer. We do not distinguish among Republicans or Democrats, beat cops or imams. This has been our policy for 17 years, since we launched. We do not splatter the names or mug shots of arrestees on our website; never have.]
Oh really? There is more than enough information in the article for people to figure out who is who and the accused has not given his side of the story. Frankly, the use of street names, first names, and named gang associations makes nearly all of the people reasonably identifiable. Weak attempt to circumvent the editorial policy.