WATERBURY, Conn. — The man who was killed in a shooting that led to a car smashing into a Waterbury business last week has been identified.
Police said Eliut Canales, 35, of Waterbury, was hit by a gunshot on Friday, June 30 around 2 a.m. in the area of North Main Street.
Officers were called to the 800 block of North Main Street after reports of shots fired. When they arrived, police found an SUV had crashed into a local Latin American restaurant, Ingapirca Restaurant and Bar.
Canales was found in the driver’s seat with a gunshot wound. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The shooting and crash remain under investigation.
"It's destroyed, it's a lot of loss and well, it's seven years of working, trying to grow it out, and now it's everything goes down," Jose Gavilanes, manager at Ingapirca Bar and Restaurant, told FOX61 News on Friday.
Gavilanes said they were getting ready for a busy holiday weekend. They purchased double the amount of food that they normally do. Now, that food is going to waste after they had to turn off the gas and power to the store as police investigate.
"The only thing I keep feeling is sad because, we ready soon to retire. And we tried to have something to keep you going you know," Gavilanes said.
Gavilanes and his family moved to Danbury from Ecuador decades ago. More recently, they moved to Waterbury so they could open up a business here. At this point, he's counting his blessings, thankful nobody was working at the time.
"I'm feeling happy because it was when the business was closed. No customers inside, none of my family was here because this restaurant is a family business," Gavilanes said.
In the meantime, police are working to figure out what happened in this case.
Anyone with information is asked to call WPD Detective Bureau at (203) 574-6941 or Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (203) 755-1234.
FOX61's Julia LeBlanc contributed to this report.
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