Paul Bass Photo
Police at the homicide scene.
New Haven’s 30th homicide of the year apparently took place in a bathroom in a first-floor apartment on Whalley Avenue, where a man found his friend’s body. It was the third shooting in just over four hours on a busy Sunday in New Haven.
The victim was found dead in the ground-floor apartment at 536 Whalley Ave. at around 7:20 p.m. Police at the scene confirmed that it was a homicide.
There was blood at the scene and shell casings were found nearby.
Police were in the process Sunday evening of securing a search warrant for the building.
The victim was 29-year-old Andre Kelly, according to his brother Marco, who showed up at the scene around 8:30 p.m., distraught.
“We some church boys,” Marco said. “That’s how I know he didn’t do nothing.”
“I’m telling you now, the motherfuckers around here know who did that shit,” Marco declared. “There’s about to be fucking problems.”
“A friend came to visit him and found him” inside the apartment, said police spokesman Officer David Hartman. The apartment is on the first floor of a three-family house, with an entry in the rear of the building. The front of the first floor is occupied by a barber shop called Sharper Image.
An ambulance crew appeared on the scene initially and then left without the body. Lt. Joe Witkowski said he expects the body to remain in place for hours while detectives process the scene.
According to a next-door neighbor, Kelly was the only person living in the building. He moved in within the last year. The neighbor said that since he moved in several incidents have occurred. A few months ago, someone broke into Kelly’s apartment by removing an air conditioner and then robbed Kelly. Around a month ago, she heard Kelly in an argument with another man in the driveway. “I heard someone say, ‘Man, I can’t believe you did me like that! I’m going to get you.’” Then next day, she said, Kelly was shot and taken to the hospital.
Sunday night, she said, “I can’t believe I didn’t hear nothing.”
“I’ve seen Andre around. As far as I know he was a good person,” said Edgewood Alderman Marcus Paca, who was on the scene.
A friend of the victim showed up at the scene at about 8:20 p.m. He said the victim went by the name “Dre.” He said Dre was shot in the leg about a month ago.
“He was a good dude,” said the friend, who asked not to be identified.
“He’s really quiet. The only time he speak to you he know you,” said a female friend who asked not to be named. “He’s cool. He’s really caring.”
Two Shootings, Three People Hurt
Earlier Sunday, a man shot in Newhallville was racing to the hospital when the car he was driving collided into another car downtown.
The collision occurred on Elm Street between Park and York just before 5:30 p.m., part of a busy evening for New Haven cops and for people in Newhallville.
Two shootings took place between 3:09 p.m. and 6 p.m., according to police. Three people were hurt. None, it appears, ended up in life-threatening condition.
The first shooting occurred at Shelton and Ivy streets in Newhallville, according to Lt. Witkowski. The victim, who was shot in the leg, brought himself to Yale-New Haven Hospital. He told police where the shooting had happened.
The second shooting took place near Shelton Avenue and Argyle Street shortly before 5:30 p.m. One of the victims drove himself downtown toward Yale-New Haven, Witkowski said. “He’s driving really fast. He’s got his flashers on,” when he hit another car, Witkowski said. Police caught up with him there.
Ten cop cars were eventually on the scene, according to the Yale Daily News, and the shooting victim was driving a BMW and hit a Nissan Maxima. Witkowski called the collision “minor.”
The shooting victim’s name is George Pettaway. On Monday night, a man named Marquette Pettaway was shot in the buttocks outside the Farnam Courts housing project. Police at the scene noticed the connection between the names; Witkowski said at this point no one knows if the victims, or the shootings, are related.
Nor did they know if the two Sunday shootings, both in Newhallville, were related, Witkowski said around 7:15 p.m. “It doesn’t appear” they were connected, “based on what very little information we have” so far; the investigation is continuing.
At 6:19 p.m. a third shooting victim showed up at the Hospital of St. Raphael. That man had also been involved in the 5:30 shooting, according to Witkowski.