Chief of Operations Tom Taffe (above) at Thursday's presser: We "deescalated" at arrest scene. His MTA officers look on (below).
Nora Grace-Flood Photos
Thomas Breen photo
Passengers finally allowed off trains an hour after July 5 shooting at Union Station.
They knew a child was in the house. And a gun. So cops descending on the home of an accused train-platform shooter took extra care when they came to arrest him.
So said Thomas Taffe, chief of operations for the MTA police.
Taffe offered that assessment during a press conference held Thursday afternoon at Union Station to detail the arrest of a 19-year-old man for allegedly shooting another man on Track 14 of New Haven’s Union Station on July 5 at around 8:40 p.m.
MTA police, in conjunction with New Haven cops, used high-definition video footage of the alleged shooter’s actions at Union Station that night to begin tracking him down. They obtained a warrant for his arrest and served it Thursday night at the man’s residence on Mansfield Street in the town of Derby.
They showed up en masse. Taffe said they worked to avoid a confrontation that would endanger the child inside the house. He said the officers succeeded in enabling occupants other than the alleged shooter to leave the house. Then they coaxed the man outside without incident, and arrested him on first-degree assault and firearms charges. They also recovered a gun inside that matches the caliber of the bullet used in the shooting, Taffe said.
The 34-year-old man the arrestee allegedly shot after a dispute among the parties involved has been released from the hospital and is recovering at his home, according to Taffe.
An accomplice of the shooter remains at large. Taffe and MTA Police Inspector Doug Rucano, the lead detective on the case, said they are keeping a “very close” eye on that person as they amass evidence to arrest him as well. They declined to offer some details about the investigation pending its completion.
The July 5 shooting caused officials to keep arriving passengers at Union Station on board trains for an hour or more while they cleared the scene. Other trains en route to Union Station were temporarily stopped outside New Haven. (Read more about that here.)
At Thursday’s press conference, Mayor Justin Elicker noted that the alleged shooter and his victim appeared to know each other.
“That is very typical of most of the violence we see in New Haven and around the community,” Elicker said. “Union Station is a safe place to come.”
Eugene Driscoll contributed to this story.