Bishop Kenny Peeples’ nephews, ages six and nine, had front-row seats at the latest burst of gunfire on Winthrop Avenue Thursday.
Peeples (pictured) said his nephews were standing outside 310 Winthrop Ave. at 5 p.m. Thursday when a car pulled up.
A gunman let out a spray of bullets, hitting three people: a 17-year-old woman and two men, ages 17 and 27. All were being treated for non-life threatening wounds at Yale-New Haven Hospital, according to Capt. Peter Reichard.
Peeples said the nephews’ mother cried out to the gunman to save her boys. “They’re just kids,” she protested. The boys were spared.
“By the grace of God, they weren’t hit,” Peeples said. “They’re shook up, but they’re OK.”
Tammy Brunson (pictured) wasn’t so lucky. She rushed to the scene after learning that her 17-year-old niece had been shot in the face. Brunson said the niece lives with her sister at 310 Winthrop Ave. The home is near the intersection of Chapel Street in the Edgewood part of town.
“They just moved in here three weeks ago,” Brunson said. She believed her niece was an innocent victim caught in the crossfire of a gang-related beef.
“She was shot in the face for no reason,” Brunson said, fuming.
The pain hit close to home for her: Brunson’s 19-year-old son was the victim of a shooting in March, just a few blocks down, at Winthrop and Percival. He was struck by a bullet in the rear. It shattered his leg. “Now he has to walk like a baby,” said Brunson. She teemed with anger as she awaited news from her sister’s family, who could be seen poking their heads out of the home. They had been instructed not to leave the house until police were done checking the scene.
Police put down markers in the street next to shell casings and were photographing where the bullets had pierced the second story of a house. A crowd of neighbors waited behind police tape to get back onto a porch.
Reichard said police did not know whether the victims were the intended targets of the shootings. Here’s what police believed happened, as preliminary details were worked out Thursday evening:
At about 5 p.m., a car pulled up to 310 Winthrop Ave. The car was a blue Scion. A person in the front passenger seat let out a spray of bullets.
One bullet grazed a 17-year-old woman’s cheek. Another hit a 17-year-old man in the ankle. They had been standing outside the house on the sidewalk. The woman ran into the driveway for cover. The man ran and sat on a nearby porch.
Police later found a 27-year-old man at 499 Elm St. He had been shot in the groin. Police believe he was shot at that same scene.
Three bullets struck a three-family home at 312 Winthrop Ave. Eight shell casings were found at the scene, though there may have been more shots fired.
Neighbors believed the trouble started two doors down, at 304/306 Winthrop.
“That house is a drug house,” said a grandmother with curly braids who declined to give her name. She said the home (pictured) has been a problem for all 11 years that she has lived on the street. Every day, the house draws a crowd of young people, hanging out, up to no good, she said.
Reichard said police didn’t know whether the gunman had intended to hit that house or not. He did confirm that police have “a lot of info” about drug sales going on at 304/306 Winthrop. Recent arrests have been made at that address for narcotics charges, he said.
The woman said gunfire happens “almost every day” in the area of Winthrop Avenue. “Until that house is cleared out,” she said, “it’s going to be that way.”