Warrant: Ansonia murder suspect used ride-booking app for getaway
ANSONIA — Police say the suspect in the killing of a 20-year-old Stratford man set up the crime on Snapchat and rode away minutes later in an Uber.
The suspect, 17-year-old Monteral Crews, faces charges of murder, felony murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, attempted first-degree robbery, and carrying a pistol without a permit in connection to the April 5 shooting death of Johnny Class on Hubbell Avenue in the city’s north end.
He has not yet entered pleas in the case, but his lawyer, Martin Minnella, promised a “vigorous” defense after reading the arrest warrant affidavit.
“I think it’s a lot of circumstantial evidence,” Minnella said
The lawyer said he would be filing a motion to reduce his client’s $1.5 million bond prior to his next court appearance, scheduled for June 23.
Class was shot and killed while sitting in a car on Hubbell Avenue near Sixth Street about 12:47 p.m. April 5.
According to the affidavit, written by Ansonia Police Detective Kristen Hunt, a friend of Class’ had used Snapchat to arrange the sale of an ounce and a half of marijuana for $300, with the buyer, named “Stickedup Mont,” instructing them to go to an address on Ansonia’s Hubbell Avenue.
When they pulled up, one of Class’ friends later told police, a man wearing a ski mask asked to see and smell the marijuana, as two other masked men approached the vehicle from the other side.
The first man seemed like he was reaching into his pockets for money, but instead reached behind him and pulled out a Glock pistol with an extended magazine, police said.
After one of the other men tried to open the locked driver’s door, the man holding the gun fired into the vehicle, then fired again as it sped off, according to the affidavit.
The witness told police they realized Class had been shot and flagged down a construction worker on Main Street who called 911.
About 40 minutes later, when police realized the shooting had actually occurred on Hubbell Avenue, they responded to the area, where Officer Mike Barry, who works as a school resource officer at Ansonia High School, recognized Crews and another student walking with an unidentified male to Crews’ nearby house on Fifth Street.
The warrant said that police made an “exigent circumstances” request to Snapchat, which told police the “Stickedup Mont” username was associated with
Crews’ phone number.
Class’ friend pointed out the home as the one where the suspects walked from behind immediately prior to the shooting, according to the warrant.
Police talked to Crews later that night in his mother’s presence, according to the warrant. He denied any knowledge of the shooting and told detectives he had gone to a friend’s house and a cousin’s apartment after school that before returning home and seeing police, then took an Uber ride to New Haven, where he kept a dirt bike.
But the warrant says police found surveillance footage depicting Crews and the two others walking toward the area before the shooting, then running away afterward. And while searching his cousin’s apartment, they found masks like the suspects wore.
The witness later picked out Crews in a photo array as the shooter, saying he was 90 percent sure.
Police also obtained a search warrant for Crews’ cell phone, from which location data seemed to match the movement of the three suspects depicted on the surveillance footage from the time and area of the shooting.
About two minutes after the shooting, according to the warrant, Crews’ cell phone used the Uber app to get picked up from down the street from the shooting to another address less than a half-mile away.
The Uber driver later confirmed the fare to police but said he didn’t remember any details. He told police he had a camera in his car, but the footage appeared to have been overwritten, according to the warrant, though it also said “it is currently in the process of being analyzed for possible recovery.”
Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch said cops are still actively investigating the case, examining physical evidence to link other suspects to the shooting.