Man arraigned in 2018 death
STAMFORD — Emotions ran high at Stamford Superior Court as a 21-year-old city man was arraigned Friday on murder charges in connection with the 2018 shooting death of a 16-year-old boy.
Isaias Delacruz was midway through his court hearing when his mother stood up and began shouting angrily.
“Don’t say nothing,” his mother yelled in Spanish, after professing her son’s innocence.
Delacruz, who was appearing remotely at the hearing from the Stamford court’s holding facility, began shouting inaudibly back to his mother before marshals calmed him down.
The proceedings were stopped until court marshals escorted his mother, who refused to sit and continued shouting, from the courtroom.
He was arrested in the slaying Thursday while appearing in court on an unrelated matter. Delacruz, who was 18 at the time of homicide, was charged with murder, conspiracy at murder and carrying a pistol without a permit in the death of Marcus Hall.
Hall was shot multiple times on the night of Sept. 20, 2018, in the area of 62 Pequot Lane, police said. The killing of the Westhill High School student and aspiring skateboarder left the West Side community shaken to its core.
Capt. Richard Conklin said in a statement that the investigation into Hall’s homicide remains active, adding that “an additional arrest is expected in the coming weeks.”
Investigator Louis Burdi said in the warrant that police used surveillance footage, witness testimony and anonymous tips to help build the case against Delacruz.
Multiple witness accounts place Delacruz and Jonathan “Gotti” Montero Delossantos in the area of the Southwood Square Complex, also known as the Village, on the night Hall was killed, Burdi said in the warrant.
Security camera footage in the area of the complex helped police identify a small white sedan with a “distinctive dark-colored gas cap door” and darkcolored rims as a vehicle of interest, Burdi said.
Officers tracked down the vehicle’s owner, who confirmed picking up Delacruz and Montero-Delossantos on the night of the shooting and taking them to the Southwood Square Complex, the warrant said.
The witness told police that the two then disappeared for about 20 minutes, then returned and asked her to drive in the opposite direction, the warrant said.
The witness said she had no knowledge of the shooting, the warrant said.
This witness’ account was corroborated by at least three other individuals and video surveillance from the area, the warrant said.
Montero-Delossantos, who is currently in prison for an unrelated drug conviction, had not been charged in the shooting death as of Friday.
In the Friday court hearing, attorney Mark Welsh argued that the $2 million bond on Delacruz should be lowered.
Welsh instead asked Judge Bruce Hudock for a “nominal” bond increase on Delacruz’s four other pending court matters.
Assistant State Attorney Michelle Manning, however, argued that if the judge were to move the bond at all, it should be to raise it. It was at this point that Delacruz’s mother began to shout in Spanish.
Ultimately, Welsh got one of his wishes as Hudock raised the bond on each of Delacruz’s files by $5,000, but not before he also raised the bond in the murder case to $2.25 million.
The murder case was later transferred to the Part A docket, where the district’s most serious cases are heard.
Delacruz is next scheduled to appear in court on May 28.