U.S. attorney: New Haven gang member admits role in 2 shootings

NEW HAVEN — A city man has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his role in two shootings and other gang activity, officials say.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut said Nyzaire Barnes, a 19year-old member of New Haven’s Exit 8 gang also known as “Melo,” plead guilty to a racketeering charge in federal court in New Haven.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the ATF, FBI, DEA and New Haven Police Department have been investigating an ongoing gang war between members and associates of the Exit 8 street gang and rival gangs in the Hill section and other areas of the city.

The Exit 8 gang is named after the geographic area accessed by exiting Interstate 91 at Exit 8 in New Haven, the U.S. attorney’s office said, adding younger members had recently started identifying with the word Honcho. It said Honcho was the name of an Exit 8 member who was killed on Quinnipiac Avenue in February 2020.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the investigation revealed that Barnes and other members of the Exit 8 gang engaged in drug trafficking and firearms offenses. Since June 2018, the U.S. attorney’s office said, the gang has committed at least three murders and 16 attempted murders.

Exit 8 members and associates also stole vehicles in and outside of the state, the U.S. attorney’s office said, adding they used those stolen vehicles when committing acts of violence.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the gang members also promoted, coordinated, facilitated and celebrated their narcotics distribution and acts of violence through text messaging and the use of social media applications and websites, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.

Barnes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, the U.S. attorney’s office said, and specifically admitted that he participated in two gang-related shootings.

The U.S. attorney’s office said the first shooting was on April 12, 2022, when Barnes and other Exit 8 members shot and attempted to kill rival gang members.

The U.S. attorney’s office said Exit 8 members, including Devin Suggs, stole an SUV in Scarsdale, New York on Jan. 20, 2023. It said Barnes and Suggs committed a drive-by shooting of a rival gang member in New Haven later that day. The victim was shot in the head, but survived the attack, it said.

Barnes has been detained since Aug. 3, 2023, the U.S. attorney’s office said, adding he faces up to 20 years in prison.

Suggs pleaded guilty to the same charge on Feb. 20 and awaits sentencing.