Associated Press/Douglas Healy
Jericho pitching at 10 years old.
Baseball kept Fair Haven teen Jericho Scott out of trouble and out of harm’s way — until suddenly it didn’t.
The sixteen-year-old, once the subject of national controversy for a super-fast pitch, was killed Sunday morning in a drive-by shooting on Exchange Street in Fair Haven. Four years ago, his dad told a reporter he was worried Jericho wouldn’t leave the neighborhood unscathed.
A 20-year-old man, who was in the car with Jericho when he was shot, was injured but in stable condition Monday afternoon.
Police Monday afternoon learned that a third victim, a 19-year-old, was shot on Exchange Street during the same incident. He went to Bridgeport Hospital to get treatment and told police he had been shot in Milford — but detectives said they found out he was lying. The cops believe the crime was not random and that the group was “specifically targeted,” according to the report.
In August 2008, Fair Haven baseball league Liga Juvenil de Baseball tried to prevent then 10-year-old Jericho Scott from pitching against other kids. They said his fast ball was too fast and was scaring the other players.
Jericho took the mound anyway, at the behest of his coach Wilfred Vidro. The other team forfeited the game and left.
His mother was furious, arguing Jericho was being targeted for other, political reasons. She brought the story to the press and it spread like wildfire, starting local at the Register and then picked up by the Associated Press and ESPN. Many argued he was being picked on simply for being too good compared to his less skilled peers.
A few years later, after the attention died down, then-Yale student Benjamin Mueller visited the Scotts at their Fair Haven home and checked in on Jericho, by then a soft-spoken 13-year-old. Jericho was still playing baseball, a family passion, but he had other interests. His fastball was still fast, but he had to work to keep up with the older players, Mueller reported in Yale magazine The New Journal.
His parents said they used baseball to keep their kids off of Fair Haven’s streets. Though Jericho was a good student and had never been in serious trouble, his dad, Leroy, had frightening premonitions about his future, Mueller reported.
Jericho is an A student and a self-professed “neat freak” who has become one of the best thirteen-year-old pitchers in New Haven, according to his long-time coach Mark Gambardella. Gambardella coached the better-organized spring outfit on which Jericho played before and since the pitching incident. Yet still, Jericho’s parents worry. “You don’t want me to talk about Jericho,” Leroy said abruptly when I called. “Me and him, we’re having a tough time.” As Leroy sees it, Jericho’s been dealt a good hand — two parents, a stable home, a supportive coach — and hasn’t quite had his eyes opened to the misery that is only a few bad decisions away for him. “He doesn’t know what it’s like to have nothing.”
Jericho has never been in serious trouble, but Leroy wants him not to forget that his talent and upbringing alone won’t save him in a town where “you have fourteen-year-olds holding pistols.” Jericho carries himself with self-assuredness, but both Leroy and Gambardella know a sensitive boy beneath the “city front.”
A previous version of this story follows:
Updated at 7:20 a.m. After a teenager was killed Sunday, district leaders worked to provide emergency grief counseling and support to students and staff.
Police officers were called to Exchange Street near Blatchley Avenue at about 12:10 a.m. Sunday where a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old had been shot, according to information provided by department spokesman officer David Hartman.
The man and the teen were shot while sitting in a white, Volkswagen hatchback that was parked on Exchange Street, according to Hartman.
EMTs, (emergency medical technicians), were already working the scene in the wee hours of Sunday morning when officers arrived. The teen was pronounced dead at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Information on his fatal injuries was unavailable at the time of this report. The 20-year-old man was struck in his shoulder, hand and wrist, but is in stable condition.
Updated: New Haven Public Schools Superintendent Garth Harries released a statement calling Sunday a “sad day for the New Haven Public School community as we mourn the loss of one our students who was shot and killed overnight.
“Each child lost to gun violence leaves an indelible mark on our community and is a heart-wrenching reminder of our urgent need to stop the killings. Our thoughts and prayers are with this child’s family, his friends and with the entire school district community. We will provide grief counseling and other supports to assist our students and staff as they return to school on Monday.
“While the complex circumstances surrounding the loss of this child leave us deeply saddened and perplexed, we stand resolved to find ways to bring an end to these acts of violence among our city youth, and engage all students on positive paths for their future. We will activate our educators and network of community partners Monday in an emergency YouthStat session to address this tragedy. We will also continue to work closely with police to ensure safety at the school and in the community.”
Hartman said in the release the department is looking for a black, or dark colored, four-door vehicle that fled the scene toward James Street after the shooting. The department has not received any tips at this time with a description of the alleged perpetrators.
The department’s Major Crimes Division and Bureau of investigation is processing the scene and interviewing possible witnesses. Anyone with information should call detectives at 203 – 946-6306.