HARTFORD -- A fifteen-year-old is dead after police said he was shot in the head.
Police said Friday night, around 10:39 p.m., officers were dispatched to 393 Garden Street after receiving a call of a person being shot and laying in the hallway.
When they arrived, officers found the young man, identified as Keon Huff Jr., of Garden Street, suffering from a gunshot wound to his head.
Officials quickly set up a crime scene and AMR paramedics responded. They pronounced Huff dead at 10:57 p.m., shortly after they responded.
Major Crimes Detectives and Crime Scene Detectives are investigating.
Hartford's Mayor Luke Bronin released the following statement:
“Keon’s death – the eighth homicide in three months, and the youngest life lost in a long, long time – is devastating, and very painful to the many people who knew him and were working with him. Last year, I personally sat with Keon and talked to him about his future and about his life.
Keon was in direct contact with many of our close community partners, who were trying hard to mentor him and get him the support he needed. But as a society, we’re failing too many young men like Keon. Between state agencies, courts, schools, police, and community organizations, we need to figure out a better way to work together.
As a society, we all bear responsibility for doing better – not just at getting guns off the street, not just at arresting violent criminals, but at actually supporting those young people who are at risk of being on either side of a gun, long before a tragedy like this happens.”