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Jury finds Hartford man guilty of toddler's 2021 drive-by shooting death

The Hartford man is scheduled to be sentenced in December.

HARTFORD, Conn. — A Hartford man was found guilty in connection to a drive-by shooting that killed a toddler sitting in the back seat of a car in 2021.

A jury found Jaziah Smith, 22, of Hartford, guilty this week in the shooting death of 3-year-old Randell Jones, Jr. on April 10, 2021., the state's Division of Criminal Justice announced Friday.

Jones' mom told police she stopped her car near the intersection of Garden and Nelson Streets to talk to her brother when another car drove up, shot at her vehicle and then drove away, according to evidence presented at the trial.

The mom saw that Jones had been shot and she immediately drove to the hospital. Jones died from his injuries at the hospital.

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At a vigil just days after the shooting, neighbors and loved ones remembered Jones as "a happy baby," and that the violence in the city has to stop.

Smith is scheduled for sentencing on Dec. 10.

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