Thomas Breen photo
James's aunt Teresa Clark (center) with Mayor Elicker and Chief Jacobson.
Teresa Clark wiped away tears as she thanked police for so quickly making an arrest in the stabbing murder of her nephew, Travis James — and she braced herself for the long road still to come as she prepares to see his alleged killer in court as she supports the prosecution.
Clark balanced that grief, gratitude, and recognition of plenty of challenges ahead during a press conference held on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. Tuesday morning.
Clark joined more than a dozen of James’s fellow family and friends — many holding pictures of James’s smiling face — for an update from Police Chief Karl Jacobson, Lt. Pedro Colon, Mayor Justin Elicker, other city police about James’s stabbing death in the early morning hours of Saturday, June 1.
James, a 47-year-old New Havener, was fatally stabbed during a fight outside of the Sam’s Mart at 285 Whalley Ave. at around 1 a.m. that day.
As Jacobson and Colon said on Tuesday, police — led by Det. James Marcum — promptly made an arrest less than two days later of a 48-year-old New Havener who has been charged with murder and is currently being held on a $2 million bond. Jacobson and Colon praised fellow police and community members for responding to a police “Wanted for Questioning” flyer to help identify the alleged killer.
Jacobson also credited community members for successfully urging the alleged killer to turn himself in, which he did at police headquarters on the Sunday night following James’s early Saturday morning death.
“This has been a tremendous loss for our family,” said Clark, who identified herself as James’s aunt and said she helped raise him. “It was a senseless murder, and it needs to just stop.” She said James was a father of three who now won’t get a chance to see his kids grow up. Elicker said he had wanted to open a landscaping business, and was trying to turn his life around.
“We’re just really broken right now,” Clark said as she began to cry. Jacobson put his hand on her shoulder in support.
Clark turned to the assembled officers to thank them for making such a relatively speedy arrest. She also told the press and everyone listening that “it’s not over for us yet,” as she and James’s family and friends still “have to go to court to see the killer.”
Jacobson promised to support the family each step of the way. “We will stand with you through the court process.”
James's family and friends at Tuesday's presser, with photos of their slain loved one.
Michael Massey, who introduced himself at Tuesday's murder arrest press conference as a candidate for Congress, spoke up on behalf of James's family: "The loss of Travis is beyond tragic," he said. He said that he had known James since childhood, and that he was driving by on Whalley Avenue at the time of the stabbing death. "We are losing our future leaders way too fast." He also said the "culture in inner cities needs to change" and spoke about how "we all grew up in the city. We're not going anywhere."