New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Cops: Woman shot to death
‘Person of interest’ arrested on unrelated charges
NEW HAVEN — A 28year-old woman was shot and killed in Fair Haven Heights Monday, according to New Haven police, with a “person of interest” in the case later taken into custody on an unrelated matter.
Officers had responded to the area of Clifton and Lenox streets Monday morning soon after the fatal shooting occurred at approximately 9:19 a.m., according to Capt. Anthony Duff.
Interim Chief Renee Dominguez identified the victim as Alessia Mesquita at a press conference Monday afternoon.
After Mesquita was shot, Rashod Newton, considered “a person of interest” in the case, allegedly left the area with the 1-year-old child he shared with Mesquita, Dominguez said, then later was found with the baby on Eastern Street. The child was unharmed and sent to the hospital for precautionary reasons, Dominguez said.
Newton was in a relationship with Mesquita, she said.
Newton, 27, was taken into custody on a warrant charging him with firstdegree assault out of West Haven, Dominguez said.
Later Monday in a press release, police referred to Newtown as a suspect in the investigation. But at that time, he had not been charged in connection with the homicide, which remained under investigation.
“Detectives and patrol worked extremely hard and extremely fast on this case. Right from the beginning, we got multiple community members who came forward and were able to provide information that was able to lead us in the right direction,” said Dominguez. “We are just extremely grateful for the men and women of the New Haven Police Department and the work that they did to be able to provide this family just a small piece of peace at this extremely difficult time.”
Mayor Justin Elicker and Dominguez noted the difficulty of the day, both for the city and for police.
“We lost a member of our community. My heart goes out to Ms. Mesquita’s family,” said Elicker, praising the Police Department for its quick action in the case.
“It was a very emotional day for everyone here. Anytime a life is taken, it’s emotional; add to that a young mother... and then just the uncertainty to where the child was .... (It’s) very emotional for the officers, many of them are parents. It’s difficult to try to go through and keep your head focused, but that’s obviously what the officers did,” said Dominguez.
Mesquita’s death is the ninth homicide of the year in New Haven. In a GoFundMe posted to raise money for her funeral expenses, a person who identified herself as Mesquita’s sister said “she is and always will be an amazing loving mother of two (2) beautiful babies who loved her more than anything.”
Before this incident, Alfreda Youmans, Jeffery Dotson, Jorge Osorio-Caballero, Marquis Winfrey, Joseph Mattei, Kevin Jiang, Angel Rodriguez and Dwaneia Turner were killed.
There had been one homicide in the city by this point in 2020.