Police: Accidental drug theft led to barbershop murder
BRIDGEPORT — It allegedly began as a simple plan for a smash-and-grab at a local sneaker store.
But police said the greed of the two alleged thieves ended up leading to the murder of a popular barber and the wounding of his assistant in a hail of bullets in their barbershop.
“The circumstances surrounding this crime are horrendous,” Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Nicholas Bove said Friday during the arraignment in Superior Court of the alleged shooter, 43-year-old Tavares Jefferson.
Judge Kevin Doyle ordered Jefferson, who is charged with murder, attempted murder, first-degree assault, attempted first-degree assault and gun charges, held in lieu of $2 million bond.
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Oct. 2, police, responding to a call of gunshots, found Jamain Allen lying in a lot adjacent to his Quick Stop Barber Shop on Pequonnock Street with gunshot wounds to his abdomen, legs, neck and head, according to Jefferson’s arrest warrant affidavit.
Allen was pronounced dead at the scene. A second barber was treated at Bridgeport Hospital for a gunshot wound in the arm, according to the affidavit.
Detectives later viewed the surveillance video from the barber shop.
The affidavit states that the video showed Allen standing in the doorway when he was approached by a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The man appeared to pull out a handgun and shoot Allen in the torso. Allen ran toward the back of the barbershop as the assailant kept firing, the affidavit states.
After what appeared to be the man clearing a jam in the gun, the affidavit states that the gunman entered the barbershop and approached the other barber who was cowering behind a chair. He appeared to fire at the man who at the last minute raised his hands in front of his face and was struck in the arm, the affidavit states.
The gunman then fired at a customer but missed, the affidavit states.
The affidavit continues that the shooter pursued the wounded Allen as he fled out the back door of the barber shop. After shooting Allen outside, the affidavit states, the gunman appeared to calmly walk back out the front door of the barber shop to a waiting silver Chevrolet Monte Carlo and left.
Police were still attempting to piece the crime together when three days later, Allen’s relative, a man with a petty criminal record, told police that he may have been the cause of Allen’s death, the affidavit states.
Three weeks before the murder, the man and a friend he only identified as “Blast” had decided to break into a sneaker store on Madison Avenue, the affidavit states.
The two men had broken in and made off with boxes of what they thought were high-end sneakers but when they got back to Allen’s relative’s home and opened the boxes, they found instead three kilograms of cocaine, valued at $120,000, and a pound of marijuana, the affidavit states.
Some days later, three armed men allegedly broke into Allen’s relative’s home when he wasn’t home and left a message with his young son that they wanted their “property” back or someone was going to die, the affidavit states. The affidavit states that the same threat was allegedly delivered a day later to Allen.
It appears from the affidavit that the “property” was not returned.
Detectives subsequently received information that Jefferson, a convicted drug dealer who was free on bond on new drug charges, was allegedly involved in the barber shop shooting.
The affidavit states that on Oct. 6, police raided Jefferson’s Lee Avenue home and seized heroin, an assault rifle and several boxes of ammunition.
Detectives said Jefferson was the owner of a silver Monte Carlo, the affidavit states. They searched numerous surveillance cameras along the path from Jefferson’s home to the barber shop and discovered video allegedly showing him drive to the barbershop before the shooting and then drive off.
When detectives presented Jefferson with what they had found, the affidavit states that he said that the owner of the sneaker shop had asked him for help in getting back his property from Allen’s relative, but he denied doing the shooting.