Police: 2 injured in weekend shootings

Two men survived being shot in Hartford over the weekend, one in the south part of the city, the other in the north, police said.

The first shooting happened early Saturday in the area of 768 Maple Ave., they said. Police received a 2 a.m. Shotspotter alert, and when officers arrived, they found evidence of gunfire, but no victim.

Moments later, a man in his 40s with multiple gunshot wounds turned up at an area hospital, police said. Police did not say how he is doing.

Another man was shot early Sunday in the northern part of the city at a rental venue of the West Indian Social Club, police said.

Officers were patrolling near the club at 3340 Main St. just before 1 a.m. when someone came out and told them there had been gunshots inside, Lt. Aaron Boisvert reported.

Officers ran in and evacuated the rental venue that’s behind the club, but didn’t find the victim. Instead, shortly afterward a man in his 20s arrived at a city hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound.

A representative of the West Indian Social Club said Sunday that the facility had been leased by the West Indian American Center, operated by Stewart Blueland LLC. It is directly behind the club itself, but is owned by the club.

“Stewart Blueland and the promoters who rent the venue are not affiliated with the West Indian Social Club of Hartford,” Marketing Director Shauna Whitter said in an email. “The West Indian Social Club was closed at the time of the alleged shooting. No patron or member of the West Indian Social Club was involved.”

The club was the scene of several attacks years ago. A man was shot in December 2014, four people were stabbed in a melee in April 2012, and a 19-year-old man was shot dead on the dance floor in 2006.

The police department’s Major Crimes and Crime Scene divisions are investigating both shootings. Anyone with information about either one is asked to call the police tip line at 860-722-8477 (TIPS).