Police investigate slaying in Fair Haven section

NEW HAVEN — Investigators Thursday continued to investigate a homicide Wednesday night in the Fair Haven neighborhood, officials said.

Capt. Anthony Duff said the homicide investigation began around 11:25 p.m. Wednesday as officers responded to a report of gunfire on Exchange Street between Ferry and East Pearl streets.

“Officers canvassed the area and found an adult male gunshot victim on the front porch of an Exchange Street residence. New Haven Fire and American Medical Response arrived to treat the victim,” Duff said. “Medical responders pronounced the victim deceased at the scene.”

Detectives from the department’s Major Crimes Unit and the Bureau of Investigation responded to the scene, Duff said.

Police continued to hold a crime scene into Thursday morning, Duff said.

Police maintained a presence on the narrow residential block Thursday morning after the street was reopened to traffic. The home on Exchange

Street, across the street from the back of Fair Haven School, was blocked off with police tape.

Detective Josh Smereczynski of the Bureau of Investigation was one of the officers on scene. He and another officer were looking through bushes and tall grass to the side of the home; he said they were looking for evidence.

At the department’s biweekly Compstat meeting, Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson said police believe the man did not live at the Exchange St. house, as residents there did not know him.

Sgt. Michael Fumiatti, the district manager for Fair Haven, said he and representatives of Yale Child Study would canvass the area in the coming days, seeking to help any children dealing with the trauma of the incident.

Wednesday’s homicide marks the city’s 17th of the year. At this point last year, there had been eight homicides, according to the Police Department.