The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘WE SHOULDN’T LIVE LIKE THIS’
With tears and anger, New Haven residents describe the impact of violence
NEW HAVEN — There were tears, raised voices and emotional testimony as residents came together to address the spike in killings and listen to officials who told them they were targeted, rather than random, homicides, much of it tied to drugs.
There have been 21 homicides in the city this year, one more than all of 2020, which has impacted several neighborhoods with the most recent emphasis on Fair Haven killings and shootings.
At the height of the twohour meeting at the Family Academy of Multilingual Exploration in the Fair Haven neighborhood there were some 200 in attendance.
Some 60 community members, mainly from Fair Haven, had also come together Thursday on Zoom to strategize before Friday’s citywide meeting.
From officials, the message to the public Friday was clear.
“We are working extremely hard, but we need your help. That is the element we are missing,” Assistant Police Chief Karl Jacobson said. “The community is the most important part of this. We cannot do this without you.”
Jacobson said they are following 26 cases as part of the Shooting Task Force where they are able to put in evidence and get results back on connections between cases from a state lab within 24 to 48 hours.
Based on intelligence, they have seized 143 guns and made 135 gun arrests this year, where 142 guns were confiscated in all of 2020, Jacobson said.
He said they were able recently to seize seven guns from a house in the Fair Haven neighborhood allegedly connected to group and gang activity. In the Hill neighborhood they have arrest warrants for two alleged shooters, he said, and two more guns were confiscated Friday morning.
At a vigil for a teen who was recently killed in Fair Haven, Jacobson said they were able to stop a car and arrest four people and seize two weapons before they arrived at the vigil.
“There are a lot of success stories. There is still too much violence, but we are doing things,” the assistant chief said. “If you are a leader in this community, ask your community to help the police . ... Many of these crimes we are this close. We just need to get over the finish line.”
Fair Haven District Manager Lt. Michael Fumiatti said after the meeting that “historically there has been significant drug and gun violence in and around” a Fair Haven parking lot where a recent shooting took place.
Mayor Justin Elicker said stopping the violence is the No. 1 priority, while for individuals seeking help, the city has a multi-prong strategy of programs that have been successful in the past.
“We are making progress,” Elicker said. He said police are seeing domesticrelated and gang-related violence, as well as individuals involved in fights and “solving them with guns.”
“But there is not evidence that people are going around the city shooting people. These are people who know each other,” he said.
Jacobson said the answer to alleged prostitution and drug activities is a return to the walking beat as the ranks are refilled.
The Police Department has 318 officers out of 406 budgeted personnel with five just added, but at least six retirements expected this year. Jacobson said they want candidates from New Haven “but the biggest recruiters are you in the room. “
“We cannot come out of two years of telling everybody publicly, especially in the media, that the police are bad and then ask them to become police. We need to tell everybody that the police are here to help you,” Jacobson said, to which the audience clapped.
Elicker said the violence is citywide, citing the Hill and Newhallville, in addition to Fair Haven as problematic. He said he has gone to every homicide and talks to the families who have lost members to violence, as well as to the wakes and funerals.
He mentioned problems in the Hill, Winthrop and Whalley avenues and lower Church Street. There are sites around the city that are problematic and “frankly they are not
easy,” Elicker said.
He said a house was identified as a site of alleged illegal activity in the Hill some time ago, but it was not raided until this week. “It takes time. We live in a society of laws. You don’t want police just knocking down your doors.”
For business owner George Carranzo at New Haven Grand Apizza, any successes in tracking the shooters is coming too late for him.
He said he is planning to leave Grand Avenue given the drop in business, which has been impacted negatively by the pandemic and the closure of the Grand Avenue Bridge for repairs, in addition to the violence.
He said he witnessed a police raid on a recent night at a local plaza and said police were back the next day .
“Ten minutes later (someone was allegedly) slinging dope right in front of the restaurant,” Carranzo said.
Karen DuBois-Walton, who was opposing Elicker for mayor, but dropped out before the primary, helped organize Thursday’s meeting with Sarah Miller and Kica Matos that drew some 60 people on Zoom.
She said the illegal activities in Fair Haven “would not be tolerated in other communities.”
“I am dismayed that I don’t hear a strategy that impacts what is happening in Fair Haven,” DuBoisWalton said.
She said she drove the five blocks to FAME, because walking home at the end of the meeting would be too dangerous.
She said if there are social service workers addressing the issues, “they are not out there at 7 p.m. and into the wee hours of the night ... I am asking for the department to share with us what is a real policing strategy that impacts what is going on in our community every day.”
Apostle Loria Morrison made an impassioned speech to add programs for city youths and jobs and pinpointed poverty as the real problem.
Elicker said they will be investing funds from the federal American Rescue Plan into building equity for disadvantaged communities with programs and jobs for young people.
Shirley Lawrence, one of three candidates running for alder in Ward 20, said she was tired of “quiet conversations” with city officials on solutions to violence.
“I’m really ready to scream,” she said.
“We are all in a state of emergency,” Lawrence said, before breaking down in tears. “Where we come from, the pandemic is nothing new ... In Newhallville we had four murders in less than four months.”
“We are living in the darkness. I am sick of it,” she said, asking that the state building that was rejected for conversion to a workerowned commercial laundromat, be opened for youth programs.
She said there are social workers and nurses who will volunteer to do it.
“When you talk to 14year-old boys who say they don’t want to go outside that is not normal. That is what we are facing ... Every night you go home or you are waking up to gunshots, sirens and ambulances,” she said.
“We have been traumatized for years,” she said. “This is a plea for all of us, Black, white, Latino.”
Elicker said Clifford Beers and Yale Child Study Center work closely with the Police Department to deal with the trauma.
He conceded people are missed, but said residents have to help refer children who need help. “We want to give that help,” the mayor said.
Another resident said in the past 25 years nothing has
been done to educate youths in the trades to give them the job skills to get out of poverty. He said too many graduate without basic academic skills.
Elicker defended the commitment and work of the non-profits and city staff.
“We are all trying. We can’t solve poverty in a couple of years. I will work with you. We are doing our best,” Elicker said, who agreed with the need to train noncollege bound youth in sustainable employment.
Trel Morrison said the police, government, clergy and educators can’t do it alone. “It takes all of us. It is time we put our words into action and hit these streets” to work with children, Morrison said.
Doug Bethea, an activist, lost his 19-year-old son to gun violence in 2007. He said there have been several mayors and police chiefs since then, but there continue to be homicides.
Bethea said putting children on the right path starts at home.
“If we don’t do it, it ain’t going to be done ... What are we going to do, to save our community? ... We have to work together with the police. It has to be a team effort - juvenile probation, adult probation, with the alders. We have to work together,” Bethea said.
Magaly Caijas, who grew up in the Hill and now lives elsewherewith her family, said she fears for her elderly parents.
“My heart hurts for seniors right now. Everyone should be able to sit outside on your .... porch and enjoy the evening without worrying about a bullet hitting you ...” Caijas said. “We shouldn’t live like this.”
Like Bethea, Caijas said it did not matter who the mayor or police chief was.
“It starts at home. We need to start walking, we need to start marching . ... The message also needs to go to the streets,” Caijas said.