Thomas Breen Photo
Chief Reyes addresses officers assembled at shooting site.
File photo
Capt. Duff.
Days after becoming a grandfather, Police Capt. Anthony Duff was driving off-duty Monday night at 9:23 p.m. when he spotted someone shoot a man at Dixwell Avenue and Henry Street.
Duff ended up at the hospital, not home.
Duff radioed in the report of the shooting, then got out of his car — and started running after the shooter.
Duff wasn’t in uniform. He wasn’t wearing a vest.
“The suspect then turned around and shot him several times, critically wounding Capt. Duff,” Acting Police Chief Otoniel Reyes said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
Duff might have died — but a fellow officer arrived and applied a tourniquet to stanch the bleeding. He underwent surgery at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is now expected to recover fully.
The other man did die. Police still haven’t positively identified him.
Officials held that press conference not at police headquarters, but at the shooting site itself. A phalanx of officers assembled behind the officials who spoke, to help send a message: The police are in the community, working with the community, to find the shooter and to ensure that everyone is safe on New Haven’s streets.
The shooter remained at large Tuesday afternoon. Reyes sent him a message at the press conference:
“We are going to extend every resource available to us to bring you to justice,” Reyes vowed, addressing the still at-large shooter. “Every single member of this department will be working this investigation.”
“You will not engage in violence against one of our own … We will stand in unison. Every single member of this department, every single member of this community, will work to bring him to justice.”
Assistant Chiefs Karl Jacobson and Herb Sharp.
Both Reyes and Mayor Toni Harp made a point of recognizing the life of not just the top cop who was shot, but the man who died. They said police have not yet “definitively identified” the victim so they can’t release a name yet. He was an African-American male, Reyes said.
“We are standing here today with the community. We are standing here today as one community to say that we will not tolerate gun violence in our city. Yesterday we lost a young man in this community to violence right on this street. He was murdered by someone” who almost murdered a cop as well, Reyes said.
Mayor Toni Harp.
“We are remorseful to the person who lost his life out here yesterday. We wish we knew who he is and who his family is so we can give our condolences. No one should lose his life on the streets of New Haven,” Mayor Harp said.
She said Duff’s decision to intervene at risk of his life “speaks to his non-stop commitment to police work and his personal valor.”
“He is resting and healing and inspiring the rest of us with his courage,” Harp said.
Police Commissioner Anthony Dawson.
Anthony Dawson, the chair of the city’s Police Commission, joined Reyes and Harp in calling for the community to come forward with information about whomever shot Duff and killed the as-yet-unidentified man Monday night.
“Captain Duff is a 24-year veteran,” he said, “and, particularly in this neighborhood, he loves you. He put his life on the line. He could have very well turned his head last night. But he got out of his vehicle, without his vest on, not knowing if he was going to meet with his family.” He spent the night instead in the emergency room, undergoing surgery, with family and officers praying for his life.
“We will leave no stone unturned,” Dawson said, “until we find the individual who’s responsible for this. This is not how New Haven is supposed to be. We have never been like this, and we will never go to this. So we want to send a message to those individuals that think that they can just run this town unlawfully: You got another thing coming.”
Police assembling on Henry Street before Tuesday’s presser.
Reyes made a plea to the media to hold off on publishing unsubstantiated rumors. He cited a false report by a television station: “Some information was put out that the suspect had been captured. That is false information. It is important and very critical that during an investigation like this … that we’re very careful about putting information out there that can hurt the investigation and confuse the public.”
East Haven, West Haven, and North Haven police helped New Haven police search for the shooter Monday night. Regional SWAT teams combed the area. The state’s attorney’s office is overseeing the investigation, as is the custom when a shooting involves a police officer. Reyes said there is no indication yet as to whether or not Duff fired his weapon Monday night.
A Beloved Community Cop
Duff serves as the public information officer for the department. He originally moved to New Haven to attend Yale University. He stayed to raise a family here and serve as a cop. He has held many posts within the NHPD, including a stint as district manager in Dixwell. He is a widely respected and popular officer with strong ties to the community.
The shooting occurred days after Duff celebrated the birth of a grandchild.
In his public information role, he participated in and helped publicize training for all officers earlier this year in the use of tourniquets.
Thomas Breen Photo
Chief Reyes updates press outside the emergency department as Capt. Anthony Duff undergoes surgery.
“Capt. Duff is in the operating room. He has been stabilized. He is going to be OK,” Reyes (pictured) said at an earlier press conference, held shortly after 11:30 p.m. outside the Yale-New Haven Emergency Department.
“He sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He is lucky to be alive right now.
“He’s a hero.”
Mayor Harp stayed with Captain Duff’s wife at the hospital throughout his surgery overnight.
Reyes described the shooter as “a black male with long braids, a muscular build, and goatee.” He was wearing black pants. The chief asked anyone with information about the shooting to call police at (203) 946‑6316.
Unanswered at this point is whether Duff fired his weapon, how many times he was hit, the exact nature of his injuries, and the name of the deceased. Duff is believed to have been hit in the shoulder and the pelvis.
Joining Reyes at the hospital press conference were internal affairs chief David Zannelli, patrol supervisor Shayna Kendall, Assistant Chief Herb Sharp, retired cop and current hospital protective services chief Nicholas Proto, street outreach worker Leonard Jahad, and police union president Florencio Cotto Jr., among others.