NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A 40-year-old man was shot and killed in New Haven on Wednesday night around 8:30 p.m. Police found Alexander Pedraza on Chapel Street, near James Street. They say he was shot at River St. and James St. Police tried to perform CPR on scene, and American Medical Response transported Pedraza to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
"This place was nice and things now, they're getting worse and worse every day," said Angel Pagan, who grew up in New Haven.
So far, the Elm City has lost four people to gun violence, in just the first three weeks of 2023.
"You can be 15, 16, 17 years old, and it's a shame. It's a shame that people, they don't get to grow up and have family because they take their life away early," Pagan said.
In Pedraza's murder, police think the shooter knew him.
"We do have some video evidence from the area where they are seen talking and have type of interpersonal conflict prior to the shooting," said Chief Karl Jacobson with the New Haven Police Department.
As police gave an update on the case, they also went through their annual CompStat Reports, which tracks crime in the city.
Despite it being a deadly start to this year, the report shows there was less violence overall in 2022 in comparison to 2021.
When it comes to violent crime in New Haven, it went down by 11.9% in 2022. Property crime decreased by 7.3%. The only major uptick was seen in robberies, which went up by 8.7%. Motor vehicle theft also increased by 1%.
"That's progress," said New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker. "That being said, it is clear that we have a lot more work to do and these first four homicides that we've already experienced in 2023, is an indication of that."
Elicker said in terms of how the city is working to combat crime, he breaks the initiatives down into three main parts: expanding existing programs they know work, adopting new programs, and innovating with new technology.
For example, the city recently invested in new traffic cameras and license plate readers, to be able to quickly catch criminals. Soon, there will be a real-time crime center, where they can view those cameras live and be more efficient in responding to dangerous situations.
"It's really important to understand that believe it or not, this is not everything that is going to ultimately going to address gun violence," Mayor Elicker said.
Elicker mentioned there's a lot more work the city is doing to deal with outside factors including attendance at school, homelessness, and opening up eight more youth community centers throughout the city. He said while police work is important, it takes a larger community effort to make change.
"And statistics are statistics, but, these are people that we're talking about," Elicker said.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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