Man faces attempted murder charge after robbery, standoff

Officials charged a New Haven man with attempted murder and other offenses following a standoff with police that lasted six hours after an armed robbery in the Westfield Trumbull Mall Friday night, police said.

Authorities charged 24year-old Eddie Lynch with first-degree robbery, criminal attempted murder and attempted first-degree assault on a police officer, among other charges, according to a Saturday afternoon statement from Trumbull police.

Police said Lynch led officers on a chase from the mall into Bridgeport, where he crashed his car and began the long standoff that lasted into Saturday morning, before he surrendered.

“Bridgeport Police secured the area immediately surrounding the intersection and were negotiating with Lynch continuously for several hours to encourage his peaceful surrender,” the statement read. “However, the circumstances were tense, with Lynch firing his gun at the officers at least once during that time.

“Following his arrest, officers recovered a variety of evidence from the jewelry store robbery, including a handgun and stolen merchandise,” police said.

Bond was set at $500,000, with added bonds of $50,000 and $20,000 tacked on from “motor vehicle charges” and “an active domestic violence arrest warrant,” the release read. He is due in state Superior Court in Bridgeport on Dec. 28.

Lynch, a convicted felon, isn’t permitted to have a firearm, according to the statement.

He was charged in relation to a robbery Friday night at the Zales jewelry store inside the mall, according to officials. One shot was fired from a gun that was used to shatter a glass display case, but no one was injured, authorities said.

“At 1:11 a.m., the party responsible for the incident at the Trumbull mall, who was at a standstill with police in the area of Anton Street and Madison Avenue ... surrendered to Bridgeport and Trumbull police,” Scott Appleby, Bridgeport’s director of emergency management, said in an earlier statement.

The mall remained open until its regular closing that was scheduled for 9 p.m. Friday Trumbull police assisted patrons with exiting the mall. Mall employees and patrons were closed out from the area surrounding incident, Trumbull Assistant Police Chief Glenn C. Byrnes said.

Byrnes said police monitored the traffic exiting the mall after several 911 calls reported a gunshot and robbery inside.

“Officers spotted the fleeing vehicle leaving the mall onto Main Street and continued a pursuit until the driver lost control at the intersection of Madison Avenue and Anton Street in Bridgeport,” Byrnes said.

Bridgeport Police said in a tweet Friday that a pedestrian was struck by the fleeing vehicle and was transported to the hospital. Scott Appleby, a Bridgeport spokesman, wrote in an email Saturday that an “[i]njured [w]oman driver was mistaken for a pedestrian strike.”

Bridgeport resident Johanna Dorgan said she was headed north on Madison Avenue near Anton Street on Friday when the fleeing vehicle Tboned her car while she was at the intersection.

“I didn’t know what hit me, it just came out of nowhere,” Dorgan said.

The impact spun her Hyundai Sonata, which got totaled, she said.

“All of the sudden, out of nowhere, I was surrounded by police cars, and I’m like ‘What the hell?’” she said.

Police helped her get out of the car through her passenger side, Dorgan said, and she went to St. Vincent’s Medical Center, where she left at about 1 a.m. Saturday. She said she’s “very sore and badly bruised.”

“Nothing broken, but Lord I am hurting from head to toe,” she said.

Shortly after 7 p.m. Trumbull police were notified of the robbery and gunshot at the Zales jewelry store. They learned that the lone male had entered the store brandishing a handgun, which he used to shatter a glass display case, police said.

“While doing this, the gun apparently discharged, firing one bullet. The man grabbed several gold chains and fled the area on foot,” Byrnes said.

State Rep. Chris Rosario and his wife were at the mall Friday evening as the drama unfolded.

They had gone to pick up curbside purchases but decided to go into Target to pick up a couple of other things, Rosario said. While inside, they heard screaming but assumed it was a fight.

“We did not know what was happening,” Rosario later said.

The couple left Target, got in their car and went to leave, but the exits from the parking lot were blocked by police.

“I’ve seen more police (at the mall) than I’ve ever seen in memory,” Rosario said.