West Haven Officer Robert Rappa's body-worn camera footage. Note: Videos show graphic violence.
“We recognize they’re going to go in either way,” city housing authority director Shenae Draughn explained when asked why her agency provided a regional police task force with a key to a Mill River Crossing apartment in advance of an early-morning drug raid-turned-fatal shoot-out with a civilian, as an 8‑year-old was nearby.
Police could have skipped notifying the landlord and just kicked down the door, “which has happened” in other cases at housing authority properties, she said.
Or they could have presented the landlord with a copy of the warrant and asked for a key — as was the case here.
“We err on the side of the law,” Draughn said. “We’re complying with the law when we’re presented with a search [warrant], which is a legal document.”
Draughn offered that explanation in a Monday morning phone interview with the Independent about why exactly the housing authority gave police a key to a Mill River Crossing townhouse that cops subsequently raided on Jan. 29.
That raid was executed at 5:34 a.m. by Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) task force officers from West Haven, New Haven, Waterbury, and the state police. It saw officers knock on the door, announce themselves and the search warrant, let themselves in with a key, and eventually shoot and kill 35-year-old Aaron Freeman, after Freeman allegedly opened fire first — injuring two West Haven cops in the process.
An 8‑year-old girl, a 32-year-old woman, and a 52-year-old grandfather were also in the apartment at the time of the shoot-out
Much remains unclear about the warrant — which, according to the state Office of the Inspector General, was sealed by a judge for 14 days from when it was first signed, on Jan. 27.
What the inspector general’s office has said is that the search warrant pertained to a drug investigation and listed Freeman and the Mill River Crossing apartment’s Grand Avenue address.
Draughn, who leads the city’s public housing authority and its related agencies under the umbrella organization Elm City Communities, later confirmed that the housing authority had provided police with a key after being presented with a copy of the search warrant.
So. Was this standard operating procedure for the housing authority? Or was there something unique about Freeman’s case that led them to hand over the key?
“There’s nothing exceptional about this case,” she said. “We work with law enforcement all the time.” For example, she said, the housing authority has resident police officers in a number of its buildings — and will have an officer moving in to live at Mill River Crossing later this month.
“It is definitely a collaboration with police in the event there is a warrant. We will get the warrant information, and then provide the key. Obviously, we don’t know when a warrant will actually be served,” she said.
Draughn declined to comment on whether or not Freeman — who has a shooting-related felony conviction on his criminal record — was on the lease. Police said in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, that he was not on the lease but instead was in a relationship with the woman who is the official registered tenant. “I can’t give personal information” about who was or was not on the lease, she said.
In defense of how the officers handled the raid, she noted that they knocked and announced themselves clearly. “I’m sure they didn’t anticipate” Freeman shooting at them in front an 8 year old. “It is something that’s extremely tragic.”
Getting back to that underlying question of why the housing authority provided police with a key in the first place, Draughn said she recognized that if police have obtained a valid search warrant, then they’re going to try to serve it — regardless of whether or not a landlord gives them a key.
“A search warrant is a legal document that authorizes law enforcement officials to enter a property to conduct a search for evidence of whatever crime was committed,” she said.
“Execution [of that warrant] can happen one of two ways: they can go in without notifying us, which has happened, and there are cases when they have asked us to comply with the law and system of executing” a search warrant, as was the case here.
And so, the housing authority provided police with the key when presented with the state judge-signed warrant.
Draughn’s explanation comes as leaders of public institutions are contending with their relationships to law enforcement, and what to do when presented with a warrant. The city’s public school district recently announced their policy stating that if federal immigration officers attempt to enter New Haven schools, the school district will require them to present a warrant — which will then be reviewed by a legal team and the superintendent’s office. Then, the district will notify guardians if a warrant specifically mentions their child.