NEW HAVEN - A triple shooting in New Haven Friday morning was not random and not neighborhood-based the police chief said, seeking to put the community at ease.
New Haven Police Chief Dean Esserman said the shootings in the Long Wharf Drive area were between individuals who knew each other. "Two cars with young people in them started gunfire on Sargent Drive near Long Wharf," said Esserman.
There were four separate crime scenes, but only one location where gunfire was exchanged. Besides the arrest of three individuals in connection to the crimes, several weapons and two vehicles were recovered.
New Haven police said at 10:20 a.m., police responded to the intersection of Sargent Drive at Long Wharf Drive after reports of gunfire.
Officers located an male victim, later identified as Jose Antonio Rodriguez Aponte, 20, of New Haven, who'd been shot in the head. According to police, preliminary information indicates Aponte was the driver of a silver car that was struck by gunfire. Aponte got out of the car and collapsed at the scene. Police said Miya Beal, 19, of New Haven, then drove the car to Vernon Street, where she phoned someone to report she'd been shot in the foot.
Both Beal and Aponte were transported to Yale-New Haven hospital where police said Aponte is in critical, but stable, condition in the Neurological Intensive Care Unit. Beal's condition is not life-threatening.
Aponte is under arrest despite being in the hospital.
Police said a second car involved with a Maryland registration was seen fleeing from the scene. Police said the driver, Luis Rodriguez, 25, of New Haven, was shot in the leg. He lost control of the car near the intersection of Howard Avenue and Second Street. Rodriguez is said to have then fled from the vehicle and broke into an unoccupied home at 84 Second St., where he hid on the second floor and phoned a relative.
New Haven Police Lt. Otoniel Reyes was able to coax Rodriguez to surrender. Police had to break a door to get to Rodriguez. Chief Esserman said there was no use of force by police. Rodriguez was taken to Yale-New Haven hospital for treatment for a bullet wound in his leg, where he is in stable condition. He is currently under arrest and charged with weapons crimes. He is also expected to be charged with burglary for breaking into the home on Second Street.
As the investigation continued, a third suspect, Michael Claudio, 25, of New Haven, was also arrested. He was found in the marsh on Sargent Drive after State Police saw him on a traffic camera getting rid of a handgun. He is believed to have been in Rodriguez's car, and when it lost control he got out and ran across the roadside embankment, the southbound and northbound lanes of I-95, across Sargent Drive and into the marsh.
Claudio is a convicted felon; he was charged in this case with criminal possession of a firearm, other gun crimes and assault in the first degree.
A police dive team was able to find the weapon and extended clip before the tide washed them away.
More charges are expected to be levied against all three suspects who were arrested, and more arrests are expected as well.
Police said four guns were recovered, including a semi-automatic with a 30-round extended clip.
Three nearby schools were in lockdown according to the New Haven Public Schools website but have since have been lifted.
