Nathaniel Rosenberg photo
Mill River Crossing, where an early-morning police shoot-out left a suspect dead.
Free counseling from area therapists. A new police officer in residence. And (hopefully) fixing the broken intercom system.
Those were some of the solutions that leaders of New Haven’s housing authority offered to residents of Mill River Crossing at a resident-only meeting held on the property Wednesday evening — after a man died and two cops were injured during a shoot-out with police in the building early that morning.
Police with a regional Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) taskforce tried to serve a drug-related search warrant for a 35-year-old man at 5:34 a.m., according to New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson. He said officers were met with gunshots and returned fire, though Jacobson said it was unclear who fired the shot that killed the man police were looking for.
Two West Haven police officers were also shot, and the shoot-out is now being investigated by the state Office of Inspector General. Police are required to release body camera footage of the incident within five days.
Twelve hours after the shooting, residents of the Housing Authority of New Haven-owned complex described the shoot-out as “shocking” and “tragic.” Many said they learned about the shooting from the news or messages from friends, and that they were asleep when the police raid was carried out.
Shortly after 5:30 p.m., several leaders from Elm City Communities, including Executive Director Shenae Draughn, gathered with approximately 25 residents for a two-hour community meeting to discuss the shooting. Draughn barred this reporter from attending the meeting.
After the meeting, Teresa Wills, a Mill River Crossing resident who attended the meeting, said the incident was scary but the meeting was productive.
“It’s upsetting that something like this happened where they’re shooting, especially with kids around,” she said.
Another resident, who asked to remain anonymous due to safety concerns, said she didn’t expect the meeting to produce real change. She said that the intercoms had not worked since 2020, and there was not sufficient security to prevent non-residents from walking into the building.
“I have anguish, it was stressful. I have children, thank God the two youngest were not here,” she said of the shooting. “Why wouldn’t [police] evacuate or attempt to evacuate as many people as possible? Everybody has to deal with the collateral damage.”
Draughn confirmed that Elm City Communities were “made aware” of the warrant before it was served, but declined to provide more details. West Haven Police Department did not immediately respond to questions as to why police did not evacuate the complex.
(Update 5:09 p.m) West Haven Police Sergeant Scott Allard declined to answer questions regarding why police did not evacuate the complex, stating the information would be included in the forthcoming Inspector General’s report.
Draughn said the meeting was mostly focused on sharing resources to help residents manage the trauma of the shoot-out. She said the housing authority was providing residents with free counseling from the Yale Child Study, Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center and Clifford Beers Community Care Center.
Draughn acknowledged that the intercom system needs a “substantial repair,” which the housing authority is currently exploring. She also said that the housing complex would have an New Haven Police Department (NHPD) officer living in the building and patrolling the premises starting in February, as part of the police department’s Officer in Residence program. According to Draughn, the previous officer covering the development left last August.
Another resident who requested anonymity described the lack of information about the raid, even hours later, as “scary.” He said that people in the building had been texting each other, trying without success to figure out who was involved in the shooting.
Another resident also requested anonymity said she was not surprised by the news, because she saw people who didn’t live in the complex coming in and out of the building “at all hours of the day.”