Police make arrest in Friday night homicide

HARTFORD — Police said they have made an arrest in the fatal shooting of a man Friday at Main Street and Mahl Avenue.

Antoine Keaton, 27, fired at Anthony Wright, 28, killing him, Lt. Paul Cicero said Monday. Both men are from Hartford. He was charged with murder and criminal possession of a firearm.

Wright was shot multiple times and rushed to Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, where he later was pronounced dead, according to Lt. Paul Cicero. It was the15th homicide of the year.

Police believe there only was one shooter. Keaton and Wright may have been embroiled in a neighborhood conflict, Cicero said.

The shooting may have been connected to the 12th homicide of the year on July 8, he said, when Malcolm Carr, 30, was killed nearby at 1994 Main St.

Police learned of the shooting shortly before 10:45 p.m., during stepped-up patrols spurred by previous gun violence in the neighborhood, Cicero said.

“Officers drove around the corner, saw the body and got flagged down,” he said.

Keaton was held on $750,000 bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday morning.

Keaton has four previous convictions over the past 10 years, including previous narcotics and weapons offenses and a 2009 armed robbery, according to court records.

Friday’s deadly shooting is the latest in a three-week spate of violence across the city, including four homicides and at least six shootings that injured people in seven days. Two men were killed in shootings less than 12 hours apart Thursday, one on Earle Street and another behind Bulkeley High School.