Two days after a homicide in the Hill neighborhood, police swarmed to the scene Sunday morning to make an arrest — but not an arrest related to the murder.
That’s the word from Sgt. Al Vazquez, officer in charge of New Haven police’s investigative division.
Vazquez and other top cops were on Frank Street around 8 a.m. when a man was arrested — right on the block where a 19-year-old was gunned down Friday night.
Vazquez said later Sunday morning that the arrest, on drug charges, grew out of an investigative by the statewide narcotics task force and the city cops’ narcotics unit. That investigation began before the murder occurred, according to Vazquez, and it as of Sunday no information had surfaced linking it to the murder.
It was notable to see top investigators on the scene of a drug bust on a Sunday morning. (Click here to watch a video on the New Haven Register’s website.) “Obviously,” Vazquez said, “that was the street where the murder occurred.”
Details remain sketchy about the homicide itself. The initial official report, like so many initial reports before a full investigation gets going, relied in part on a barebones description from people at the scene, the kind of description that often changes or acquires a different context when the full story eventually comes out.
Here’s what the information police released Friday night:
At 8:25 p.m., they responded to a report of gunfire on Frank Street near West. Police found 19-year-old Nathan Richardson, who had been shot between West Street and Washington Avenue. Richardson was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The victim’s father told cops he and his son had been walking on Frank Street when they heard gunshots. They both took off running. His son fell to the ground.
Police had the crime scene cordoned off Friday night as detectives investigated.
“Police are asking anyone with information regarding this crime, to call the Investigative Services Division at (203) 946‑6304 or the NHPD Tip Line at (203) 946‑6296,” police spokesman Officer David Hartman said. “Such calls can be made anonymously.”