INVESTIGATION YIELDS ARREST AMID MULTIPLE GUNFIRE INCIDENTS

New London — City police focused on a recent spate of shooting incidents made an arrest Thursday in an incident two weeks ago in which shots were fired less than a mile from the New London High School Multi-Magnet campus.

Police in a news release said they charged an unnamed 17-year-old male with criminal possession of a firearm, unlawful discharge of a firearm and first-degree reckless endangerment.

Police arrested him on a warrant around 2 p.m., police said. The suspect is a juvenile under age 18.

The incident resulted in a temporary lockdown at the high school campus while police investigated reports of shots fired in the area.

It was one of three gunfire cases in as many weeks. There were no injuries, according to police.

The department last week announced the three cases had become the priority for its Investigative Services Division, with additional resources allocated from the patrol, vice, narcotics, traffic and community services divisions. They said state and regional agencies had been called in as well.

Police said the March 9 report came in at 11:17 a.m. about four juveniles shooting a gun in a parking lot in the area of 80 Ledge Road, less than a mile from the Jefferson Avenue school campus. One witness reported three shots being fired in the Ledge Road parking lot near a wooded area.

The lockdown was lifted shortly afterward, and the campus was placed in “secure building mode,” which prohibits movement in and out of the school but allows classes to resume. The lockdown was lifted at 12:30 p.m., police said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at (860) 447-1481 or submit a tip via the New London Tips 411 system by texting NLPDTip plus the information to Tip411 (847411).