Paul Bass Photo
Detective John Moore, who led the domestic violence investigation.
Police Chief Karl Jacobson offered two definitions Wednesday for the offense of “criminal attempt to commit assault in the 1st degree.”
It means “shooting at somebody,” Jacobson told reporters gathered at a 1 Union Ave. crime update press conference.
He offered a broader definition as well: It means an act that New Haven police are determined to stop people from committing, even if they don’t always hit their targets.
Much of the press conference was dedicated to describing recent arrests for allegedly shooting at somebody.
Detective John Moore made one of those arrests. The details of the case show how serious the alleged offense can be.
Gun Batted Away At Last Moment
The 44-year-old man allegedly shot at his ex-wife on the evening of April 11, 2022 while driving in a car with her.
Moore, an eight-year NHPD veteran, was just starting out then as a detective in the Special Victims Unit.
He quickly gathered enough evidence to obtain an arrest warrant for the suspect. The warrant details how the woman and the alleged shooter had recently split up over his “aggression, insecurities, and over-controlling behavior.” After he moved out, he allegedly warned her, “If you have any other males come over the apartment, my little guys will kill them.” Then he threatened to show their children a video of him and her having sex unless she agreed to continue having sex with him. Based on the threat, she agreed to go out on a date on that evening of April 11; he became “aggressive” at a restaurant, then picked up cocaine as they drove back to her home. He pulled out a gun while using cocaine in the car, pointed it at her head; she pushed the gun away as he pulled the trigger and fired, according to the arrest warrant affidavit. “The shot missed her head by inches,” the warrant states. He then fled from the car. The woman got in the driver’s seat and then drove home.
Although Moore compiled enough evidence for the warrant to be signed, he’d have to wait close to a year before making the arrest, as the suspect allegedly fled to different communities — and continued allegedly committing gun crimes.
Thomas said he kept in touch with colleagues in other departments who were looking for the man; they worked with U.S. marshals as well. They all got word that the man happened to be back in the area the week before last. Moore accompanied Hamden police and the marshals to a house in Hamden where the man was found, and arrested. The arrest brought a long-awaited “sense of closure” as well as “a lot of comfort to the victim,” Moore said Wednesday.
The arrestee is being held on $600,000 bond.
Sprayed Bullets Tied To Same Guns
Another detective, Elizabeth White (pictured canvassing neighbors at a 2019 barricaded-man scene), tracked down two other men arrested recently for, among other charges, criminal attempt to commit assault in the 1st degree for allegedly firing dozens of bullets in public places.
One of the arrestees, who’s 21, was charged in two separate cases (and was already behind bars for other alleged offenses).
One incident took place on Easter Sunday 2022: The man and a second person allegedly fired more than 36 rounds from a .22 and a .40 caliber firearm at three separate locations, striking “multiple residences and vehicles.”
White, who has a reputation for detailed forensic fact-gathering, pieced together evidence, including from the automated National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and the department’s new license plate reader cameras to tie the bullets from all three locations to the two guns and to identify the suspects’ vehicle.
The second incident for which the 21-year-old was arrested, also investigated by Detective White, took place the week before Easter 2022 on Whitney Avenue, when occupants of two cars fired “numerous” shots at each other.
Morning East Rock Gunfire, Revisited
Reader Contributed Photo
Shots fired at Orange and Lawrence on Feb. 27.
Surveillance video from citizens helped police make an arrest in a more recent gun case: the firing of at least 28 bullets by people driving along Lawrence, Livingston, Edwards, and Orange Streets on the morning on Feb. 27. Detectives found one of the cars involved, with four illegal weapons inside, in Hamden. They subsequently were able to produce evidence to obtain a warrant to arrest another already incarcerated man, who’s 19 years old, for, among other offenses …. criminal attempt to commit assault in the 1st degree.
Officials reported that in addition to taking general shots fired cases seriously, detectives have had success making arrests in cases of actual homicide: So far this year, in less than three months, New Haven cops have arrested seven people on homicide charges, according to Chief Jacobson. They made seven such arrests in all of 2022.
Mayor Justin Elicker reported that police have seized 80 illegal guns so far this year, compared to 52 at the same point in 2022.