Thomas Breen photo
The Dewitt St. block where the fatal shooting took place.
(Updated) An 8‑year-old boy died from an apparently accidental gunshot wound Sunday night while at home on Dewitt Street in the Hill.
City police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart sent out a press release about that tragedy Monday afternoon.
He wrote that, at around 10:54 p.m. Sunday, city police officers were dispatched to “an address in the city for the report of a person shot.”
The address was a three-family house on Dewitt Street between Rosette and Lamberton in the Hill.
“Upon arrival, officers located an 8‑year-old male victim lying on the kitchen floor with an apparent gunshot wound,” Bruckhart wrote. “The victim was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital via AMR where he was pronounced deceased.”
Officers later determined that the juvenile victim was a resident of the house “and was with other family members at the time. A firearm was also located. Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit also responded and are working to determine the circumstances of the shooting. It appears at this time to be accidental and there is no threat to the community stemming from this incident.”
Bruckhart said that, as of Monday afternoon, no one has been arrested. He also said police are still working to determine who the gun belonged to.
A neighbor who asked to remain anonymous said that he was at home Sunday night, two houses away from the site of the shooting, when he and his cousin heard yelling and shouts of “oh no.”
“People were on the porch, yelling, crying,” he said. He saw police and firefighters and ambulance workers. He thought that the boy’s brother, a 14-year-old, was the one who had been shot. He was surprised on Monday when reporters informed him that the 8‑year-old was the one who died.
“I believe it probably was an accident,” the neighbor speculated. He said the family in the third-floor apartment at the house are good friends of his sister’s. He said he and his daughter have both babysat for the 8‑year-old in the past. He said he didn’t know his name, but that he’s a public school student in the Hill. “He was a little funny dude,” he said with affection.
A woman who said she’s friends with the mom of the young boy described Sunday’s night fatal shooting as “just a very unfortunate event.”
She said her child and the 8‑year-old had played together many times before. She said she wasn’t present at the time of the shooting, but “I received a phone call” soon after.
“My thing is, I think parents really need to tune in to their children,” especially their social media, she said. Be aware of what your kids are up to. “It’s just crazy,” she said about Sunday’s death.
“While our detectives are actively investigating the sequence of events which led to losing an 8‑year-old to a shooting, what is clear is that this was a tragic, preventable, and senseless death,” Police Chief Karl Jacobson is quoted as saying in the press release.
“Any loss of life is regrettable, but to lose a child is the greatest tragedy imaginable,” New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent. “Our hearts go out to the child’s family, to his friends, and to all who knew him.”
Police ask that anyone who may have witnessed this incident or who may have information valuable to investigators to call detectives at 203 – 946‑6304 or through the department’s anonymous tip-line at 866 – 888-TIPS (8477).
Connecticut already has a law, named after Ethan Song of Guilford, that requires that guns by locked up in homes with kids. Click here to read a recent article about U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s renewed efforts to get this same law passed at a national level.
An anonymous neighbor who lives two doors down: "People were on the porch, yelling, crying."
