Suspect Arrested In Winthrop Double Homicide

City police have arrested a 40-year-old New Havener for the shooting deaths of fellow city residents Jonathan Garcia, 27, and Marquis Darnell McNeill, 40, on Winthrop Avenue in early April.

City Police Chief Karl Jacobson and Mayor Justin Elicker announced that arrest during a Thursday morning press conference on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. 

The press conference focused on the April 1 early morning double homicide of Garcia and McNeill, whom police found critically wounded in a stolen Acura MDX parked on Winthrop near Goffe Terrace.

The suspect, a 40-year-old New Havener who was on special parole for a 2017 firearm offense at the time of the April shooting deaths, was scheduled to be arraigned on the two murder charges on Thursday. State court records show that he had already been arrested on April 1 on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with an officer. He is being held on a $1 million bond on that charge.

According to a report filed with the state court on April 1 by Officer Katie Hansen, police responded to Winthrop Avenue after ShotSpotter reported a total of nine rounds fired at 7:54 a.m. that Saturday.

Responding officers found a man, later identified as the murder suspect, ​“in the middle of the road … yelling.” His clothing matched the description that 911 callers had given of a man at the scene with a gun. When confronted by police, the suspect ignored verbal commands and shouted ​“Kill me!” when officers drew their guns, according to Hansen.

Hansen’s report also states that video footage obtained from a bystander showed that the suspect appeared to “[reach] into the rear passenger side door of the Acura,” before “[pointing] the object in his hand, which [appeared] to be a handgun, towards passing cars on Goffe Ter. and [appearing] to fire multiple rounds.”

Jacobson opened Thursday’s presser, providing updates on the case. A warrant for the suspect’s arrest was issued on June 27, and he was scheduled to be arraigned later on Thursday on two counts of murder.

Mayor Elicker spoke at the presser following Jacobson’s statement, expressing his condolences to Garcia’s family and emphasizing the police department’s heroism. Elicker recalled watching video evidence of the murder on a bystander’s smartphone when he arrived at the scene on April 1.

Following the mayor’s statement, Jonathan Garcia’s mom, Jessica, took the podium. The room fell silent as she took a moment to gather herself before recounting the rainy Saturday morning when she first received the news of her son’s death at 9:55 a.m.

“My whole life was altered in seconds. But why? How could you kill someone that you considered a friend?” she asked.

Before she returned to her family following the end of her statement, Jessica Garcia pleaded, ​“Please, put the guns down.”

Union Station Shooting Suspects Still At Large

Top cops also updated the press on Thursday on the latest with the shooting that took place Wednesday night on a train platform at Union Station. 

According to the MTA’s investigation, the victim was a 34-year-old New Haven resident who had just arrived on a Metro North train from Grand Central. He had been visiting family in New Jersey. That man, who was critically injured by the shooting and is in the hospital, was involved in an apparent dispute with two individuals on the train that ​“spilled out onto the platform,” Jacobson said.

Following the shooting, the two suspects rode a bus to the New Haven Green before boarding a second undetermined bus. Both suspects remain at large.

Elicker returned to the podium to speak to the incident, reminding New Haveners that the Union Station shooting was the first in 17 years, and that this seemed to be the result of an intrapersonal dispute that was not targeted at other passengers.

Elicker also cited eight arrests made this year in 12 homicide cases. There have been 34 non-fatal shootings so far this year, in comparison to 51 at this same time last year. ​“Obviously, this is still not acceptable, but it’s certainly progress from prior years,” he said.