New Haven shootout unfolds near Yale

NEW HAVEN — Ben Berkowitz was about to turn left from Whitney Avenue to Edwards Street next to Yale University Science Hill Monday morning when he saw a Dodge Durango with tinted windows enter the intersection, driving very close to the car in front of it.

Berkowitz, 43, then saw a person on the passenger side of the SUV pop up out of the window, lift a handgun and point it in the direction of the other car.

Next thing Berkowitz knew, the vehicles were headed down Edwards, toward Orange Street, and he heard the “pop, pop, pop” of semi-automatic gunfire. He pulled over on Edwards to see if anyone had been shot when he saw people hiding behind trees and cowering below steering wheels.

New Haven officers responded to the area at 8:54 a.m. Monday after receiving numerous reports of a shootout between cars, Capt. Rose J. Dell, public information officer for the New Haven Police Department, said Tuesday evening.

No one was injured in the morning gunfire, which happened as people were going to work and class. Nearby schools were locked down, and Yale University alerted students and staff to avoid the area.

Soon after the lockdowns were lifted, investigators located the other car involved in the shootout, an Acura MDX, in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood, according to Dell. It bore “numerous bullet holes” and was found to have been reported stolen in Hamden the day before, Dell said.

Shortly thereafter, Dell said, investigators located the Dodge Durango in Hamden and determined the suspects had fled to a home in the 720 block of Newhall Street. The home, Dell said, is known to police for “numerous incidents of criminal activity.”

Police announced at a neighborhood meeting Monday night they had arrested juveniles in connection with the shootout, Berkowitz said.

Christopher Carter Perry Jr., 19, of New Haven, and Angelo Gibson III, 18, of Bridgeport, were taken into custody at the Newhall Street home, according to Dell. They were charged with criminal possession of a firearm, possession of weapons in a motor vehicle, carrying a pistol without a permit, possession of a high-capacity magazine and larceny of a motor vehicle, Dell said. Gibson turned 18 in mid-February.

Two handguns, a Mossberg MC1sc 9mm and a Glock 22 .40-caliber, were seized at that time, according to Dell. Two more, a Sig Sauer .357 and a Springfield XD .40-caliber, were discovered during a subsequent courtauthorized search of the home, Dell said.

Berkowitz, a lifelong city resident, said he is disappointed this type of violent occurrence is happening in New Haven.

“We have been better than this,” he said Tuesday. “And we can be better than this as a city.”

Berkowitz said he wasn’t frightened when he saw the gun because it wasn’t pointed toward him.

“I was worried for other people,” he said. “It didn’t feel rational to be scared. I never felt that I was in danger.”

The black Durango “barged into the intersection” right before Berkowitz got there, he said.

The person behind the wheel was driving “abnormally close” to the car in front of it, he said.

Berkowitz said he didn’t see the gun being fired; that happened as the Dodge and Acura were driving down the street in front of him. But he heard the gunfire.

He kept an eye on the cars, calling 911 to report their location to police.

“It seems that they got side-by-side in the roundabout at Livingston (Street),” Berkowtiz said.

He pulled over when he saw people staying close to the ground to make sure no one had been shot, he said.

Berkowitz saw people on the sidewalk and in cars who looked scared or simply confused — including a woman with a baby in a carriage.

One driver who pulled over haphazardly after seeing that she was in the line of fire “was really shaken up,” he said.

“She didn’t get out of her car until the police showed up,” Berkowitz said.

Berkowitz said he helped police pick up shell casings. In all, Dell said, they found about 23.

Testing determined 9mm casings recovered from the scene of the shootout had come from the 9mm handgun seized at the Newhall Street home, confirming the handgun had indeed been used in the shooting, according to Dell.

She said the other test results are pending.