Four weeks ago, Krystal Hammett marched with her best friend, Jajuana Cole, in the Freddy Fixer Parade. They were part of the Dixwell neighborhood drill team; they shared a love of dancing.
This past Friday night Kystal slept over her best friend’s house on Dickerman Street. Shortly before 11 p.m. the two 13 year-olds decided to check out a party on the block. They went downstairs from Jajuana’s third-floor apartment in a three-family house, past graffiti in the hallway reading “Fuck Tribe,” outside to the Dickerman Court apartment complex two doors down. They knew some older teens at the party. It was “Milton’s Mother’s tattoo party.”
They were hanging around outside when Krystal saw a young man pull out a gun.
“Please don’t shoot!” she screamed.
“Shut the fuck up!” he responded. And he sprayed the block with bullets.
One bullet grazed Krystal’s back. He hit the ground. Everyone else, including Jajuana, ran down the street. But a bullet hit Jajuana too.
Kyrstal recalled the night’s horror during a stop to Dickerman Street with her mother Sunday morning. She spoke almost nonchalantly about the incident that will permanently change her life; it seemed she was still in that first phase of reacting to the trauma, when lots of adults were paying attention to her as she told the story over and over, trying to make some sense of it.
When the shooting stopped, when the ambulance crews came, “I wanted to go to the same hospital as [Jajuana]. They said I can’t.”
Jajuana went to Yale-New Haven. She was pronounced dead early Saturday morning.
Krystal went to St. Raphael’s. She was luckier. The bullet, or bullets (no one’s sure of the number that hit her), did damage, injuring her in two spots in her back and one in her leg. She’s feeling continual pain, according to her mother, Christine Hammett. But she’s walking around.
Sunday morning Krystal and her mom were dropping by Dickerman Street to look in on Jajuana’s mother and learn about any arrangements for a funeral. The mother said she hadn’t made plans yet.
Then Krystal was headed for a physical therapy appointment, her mom said. The more difficult pain to heal will obviously come from the emotional of her best friend’s death. Krystal’s thinking about it “every hour.” She didn’t say that; her mom did.
Jajuana and Krystal were classmates in the seventh grade at Wexler-Grant School. They mostly enjoyed just hanging out together, Krystal said; dancing was one of their shared passions. They spent afternoons rehearsing with the drill team community volunteer Doug Bethea runs in the neighborhood.
Police arrested two suspects in the shooting; one remained at large. The two arrested alleged gunmen are 16 and 17 years old. Police charged them with conspiracy to commit murder and aiding and abetting murder.
The bullets were not intended for the girls, police said. Click here to read a release the mayor issued about the incident this weekend.
Click here to read a related story.