Police Sunday charged a man living in a Quinnipiac Meadows apartment complex with first-degree assault for shooting a neighbor in the head.
The incident occurred between 7:30 and 8 a.m. Sunday. Here’s what happened, according to police spokesman Officer David Hartman:
A 71-year-old man who lives at a complex on Donna Drive, off Middletown Avenue, called 911 at 7:49 a.m. to report he’d shot someone “who tried attacking him with a knife.”
Cops and EMTs showed up to find a 23-year-old man, who also lives in the complex, in a “front common hallway … suffer[ing] a gunshot wound to the sid eof his head.” He was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he has been reported in critical condition.
Later in the day, Hartman issued a release stating police had decided to charge the 71-year-old man with first-degree assault.
“Right now our information suggests that it was not self-defense,” Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso told the Independent Sunday evening. He said a woman who witnessed the shooting said it was part of an argument between the two parties. Meanwhile, the 71-year-old has not provided more information, instead requesting to speak with his attorney, according to Generoso.
The 71-year-old man had a valid license for his gun, Hartman said. Police have possession of the gun believed to have been used in the incident.