NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Several shootings occurred in the New Haven area over the weekend, including one at a Hamden memorial that was honoring 14-year-old Tyshaun Hargrove, who was shot and killed three years ago.
The four shootings spanned from New Haven to Hamden in just 48 hours, injuring seven people. Thankfully, nobody was killed and all the victims are expected to be OK, police said.
The first took place Friday night in Hamden at the vigil for Hargrove; three people were shot.
The second was Saturday morning in the area of Chatham and Ferry Streets in New Haven; one person was shot.
The third happened later that day; a drive-by shooting near Temple and Chapel Streets with one man injured.
The final was Sunday afternoon at Shelton and Ivy, where two men were hit.
William Outlaw, re-entry specialist for Connecticut Violence Prevention and Intervention, said more work needs to be done.
“I think we need to take it real serious and pour our resources and as much work to prevent it,” Outlaw said. “A lot of these shootings are on sight and not pre-meditated… I see you, you see me and shots get fired.”
New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said the department is working closely with the community and beefing up police patrols.
“We’re using our federal partners,” Jacobson said. “You’ll see some of our federal agencies riding with our officers to put more officers on the street.”
Jacobson said that even though much of the recent violence has been targeted, people should keep their heads on a swivel.
“Be careful of your surroundings, call in anything,” he said. “If something does happen in your neighborhood, report it to the police.”
New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said the city is working with local groups to keep young people involved and out of trouble.
“We work with a number of non-profit partners and actually have contracts with them,” Elicker said. “They will go out into the community, talk with the folks who we believe may be engaged with violence and try to simmer things down.”
The partners also connect them with other resources and allow people to choose different paths so that they don’t choose gun violence.
Some young people are still concerned this won’t change anything.
“People are going to do what they want to do for real,” resident Xavier Smith said. “Most of the time they’re not going to stop what they want to do, to join some random activity that’s trying to stop them from what they want to do.”
Outlaw stressed that ending gun violence takes the community coming together.
“We should start setting up more things for our younger people,” he said. “I think we need to start showing up when our younger people are participating in positive things and that helps a lot too, because we need to be more present as the older people in our community.”
Kaye Paddyfote is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at kpaddyfote@fox61.com. Follow her on X and Instagram.
MORE NEWS:
---
Do you have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com.
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Stream Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.