Melissa Bailey Photo
Two city appraisers took a break from inspecting houses Thursday morning on the Ella Grasso Boulevard to grab a cup of coffee. When the came back, they found police detectives inspecting those same houses for bullet holes.
The bullets flew on the Boulevard between Goffe Street and Whalley Avenue around 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
Neighbors told police that a man on foot fired seven or eight bullets at a passing car, described by one witness as a black Nissan Sentra.
Witnesses told police that the gunmen then crossed Boulevard an entered a house. Cops left the scene around 12:25 p.m. No arrests were made, according to police spokesman Officer Joe Avery.
Gary Matican and Marcus Anderson (at left and right in photo above) left Anderson’s car right at the scene as they walked down the Boulevard Thursday morning, inspecting houses. They work for Vision Appraisal, the company the city hires to conduct its state-required revaluation of citywide properties. After a few hours of data collection, they stopped into Dunkin’ Donuts.
The pair returned to Goffe and the Boulevard around 12:10 to find five police cruisers at the scene. They counted themselves lucky to have taken a break when they did.
“We said, ‘Let’s go have a cup of coffee,’” recalled Matican. “If we didn’t we’d be lying on the street.”
Across the street from Anderson’s car, which survived unscathed, cops were walking slowly on the sidewalk outside 1599 Ella Grasso Blvd.
They picked up shell casings and put them into a manila envelope.
Police found at least six large-caliber shell casings on the ground there.
Neighbors watched with concern. They said this is the second shooting of this description at that spot.
“We moved out of the bad neighborhood into the middle class, and we still have to worry about getting shot,” remarked one neighbor, who declined to be named.
Just then, a cop came up to the house and inspected it for bullet holes.
“I don’t know how this house didn’t get shot,” Officer Gallagher told them. The bullets came from a .45-caliber shotgun.
Teens Charged In Stickup
In other news, according to police Officer Joe Avery:
A 20-year-old man told police he was robbed at gunpoint at 34 Maple St. in the Edgewood neighborhood at 12:52 a.m. Thursday. He said the assailants were two teenagers he had known for over a year.
He told police the teens wrestled him, jumped on him, then pulled out guns and robbed him. Cops responded to that address and arrested two suspects.
“Pito” Gets 7 Years
A former New Haven man was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to charges of “unlawfully possessing a firearm and producing counterfeit U.S. currency,” according to U.S. Attorney spokesman Tom Carson.
Victor Salaman, age 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Christopher F. Droney in Hartford to 84 months of prison followed by three years of supervised release.
Salaman gave $1,000 in counterfeit U.S. dollars to a person working with law enforcement in exchange for $300 real U.S. dollars, according to court documents. Salaman told the person that he wanted to buy a firearm and a silencer. After that meeting, an undercover cop arranged to sell Salaman a firearm and silencer in exchange for $5,000 in counterfeit money. Salaman was arrested after making that deal, Carson said.
Salaman pleaded guilty on Nov. 23, 2010, to “one count of possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon and one count of
producing counterfeit U.S. currency.”
He’s been behind bars since his arrest on Jan. 12, 2010.
Crime Map
Police responded to three calls for stolen automobiles Wednesday, including one from the Dattco bus company at 100 Hemingway St.
Click here for a list of emergency calls for major incidents on Wednesday. Click on the image below to see those crimes placed on a city-wide map.
For block-by-block year-to-date crime info, and daily crime maps, check the Independent’s crime log.