Markeshia Ricks Photos
Green smoke from the flash bang officers used in the capture of the shooter Saturday.
A 51-year-old New Haven man is in custody and being treated for his injuries after shooting and critically injuring his wife and shooting two police officers Saturday.
New Haven police along with the help of neighboring police departments, the fire department, and federal agencies including the FBI and ATF worked for about five hours to apprehend the man who had fled into a house and refused to come out.
After the police deployed a flashbang, and then later, after a short hail of gunfire from a SWAT team of officers that could be heard from Elm Street, the man was taken into custody at around 3 p.m. The man was injured in that takedown process and had to be transported to Yale-Hew Haven Hospital.
Because the man was shot by police officers, the state attorney’s office and the state police major crimes unit for the central district have initiated an investigation, which is standard procedure for officer-involved shootings and use of force cases.
SWAT officers heading toward the intersection of Sherman Avenue and Edgewood Avenue.
The event started around 10:21 a.m. when police were notified by calls to 911 that gunshots were being fired in the 600 block of Elm Street, between Beers Street and Sherman Avenue, according to police department spokesman Officer David Hartman.
Officers Shumway and Pessino.
When officers arrived, they were notified that a 51-year-old woman had been shot multiple times. She had been shot in her home at 638 – 640 Elm St. The woman is reportedly a retired Department of Corrections officer. She was shot in the hand, arm, and neck, but was able to flee to a neighbor’s house. She was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital where she had surgery. She remained in critical but stable condition as of 4 p.m. Saturday.
Elm Street neighbors watched and waited …
… while officers including three negotiators tried to get the shooter to surrender.
Hartman said the shooting was part of a domestic violence dispute. Officers Scott Shumway and Eric Pessino were injured at around 10:30 a.m. as they were attempting to enter the house where the dispute had taken place. Hartman said that when the two veteran patrol officers approached the basement door of the house, they were met by the shooter with some type of long gun and gunfire.
Both officers were shot in their arms. Pessino was treated and released for a gunshot that grazed his arm. Officer Shumway remains hospitalized, though his injuries are not life threatening.
ATF officers head to scene.
Hartman: State police now investigating.
Hartman said that officers evacuated people from surrounding homes and nearby businesses, asking people to leave the area because of the threat of gunfire. They also evacuated the three-family home where the shooter was, thanks to a tip from Assistant Chief Otoniel Reyes. Reyes helms the department’s patrol division and was familiar with the residence, but could not say how because of the investigation. The shooter took no hostages during the incident. A team of three negotiators attempted to reach the shooter to convince him to surrender, but were unsuccessful.
At 1:30 p.m. the police detonated a flashbang on Elm Street as a diversionary tactic, according to Hartman. At about 3 p.m., after a short burst of gunfire, the suspect was taken into custody. He was injured in the process of being taken and was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Edgewood Alder Evette Hamilton, who was standing with a crowd of bystanders behind the yellow tape near the Stop & Shop parking lot at just after noon, said she heard about the incident this morning when her daughter told her that there were police officers driving the wrong way down Sherman and stopping to ask people if they had seen anybody in the area with a gun.
“We need more peace,” Dwight Alder Frank Douglass said.
Best Possible Resolution
Campbell applauds collaboration of law enforcement and other city departments.
At a 4 p.m. press briefing Chief Anthony Campbell said he was grateful for the cooperation of every division of the fire department and the assistance of police departments including Yale, West Haven, Wallingford, North Haven, and the state police department. Mayor Toni Harp was in Washington, D.C. on business, but cut that business short to make her way back to the Elm City, he said.
“This was an excellent job by New Haven police officers,” he said. “The resolution of this incident overall today could have gone a completely different way. This was policing at its best.”
Griffin said Saturday’s incident highlighs the danger of policing.
Patrick Griffin, assistant state’s attorney, said that the New Haven Police Department was prompt in notifying his office that there had been an officer-involved shooting and that there is now an active investigation of the day’s events. He said it exemplified how dangerous policing has become in the 21st century.
Chief Campbell said that Saturday’s incident also exemplified the value of officer training that closely mimics real situations, and highlighted the real need for the department to have someone who can use social media to push out information. The department has pushed for staffing that would more formally use social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook as a policing tool. The department uses those tools to some extent to catch criminals.
Reyes: Domestic violence is one of the most volatile crimes for cops to handle.
Campbell noted that there have been five homicides in the city, one of which was domestic-violence related.
“We are fortunate that we didn’t have our second” domestic violence-related homicide, he said. And he said that Saturday’s incident only highlights the city’s need for a family justice center, which he said is moving forward.
Mayor Toni Harp said in a statement Saturday that she was grateful that the officers weren’t wounded more seriously and seem to be OK.
“I’m grateful for the effective, professional response by the NHPD in the face of today’s violence,” Harp said. “All of us in New Haven appreciate the potential risk police officers face daily — and thank them for taking on that responsibility.”
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy added his Saturday to the voice of those relieved that the incident had not turned out worse than it could have.
“Today’s events serve as a reminder of the dangers our law enforcement officials face while protecting our communities,” Malloy said in a statement. “Police officers show up for work every day with the intent to serve and protect, and we are grateful for their service. While this remains an active investigation and we do not presume to know all the details regarding this particular situation, we are also reminded today of our moral obligation to work to prevent domestic violence and the many needless tragedies that occur as a result.
“Our thoughts are with the injured responders, Officers Eric Pessino and Scott Shumway, the victim, as well as all their families and friends,” Malloy added. “We wish each of them a full and quick recovery.”