A troubling, six-week tally in New London: six shootings, one death, one arrest
Mar. 26—NEW LONDON — On Monday afternoon, about the time neighborhood kids step off their school buses and head home, Rob Woodward was relaxing outside his Fuller Street residence when he heard "two quick pops."
"I told my friend there's no kind of knucklehead setting off fireworks in March," Woodward said Tuesday. "Then I saw a white, four-door car speed by and, a few minutes later, I heard sirens."
Responding officers and detectives recovered bullet casings from the area of Colman Street and Ashcraft Road, only a few feet from Woodward's front door, marking the sixth time in as many weeks that gun violence has erupted in the city.
"I was freaked out, but not really surprised," Woodward said, noting a nearby Ashcraft Road garage was sporting what appeared to be a fresh bullet hole. "It's a sign of the times."
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Shots fired
New London police have responded to six shootings between Feb. 18 and March 25
Hawthorne Drive
New London
Colman Street and Ashcraft Road
Groton
Jefferson Avenue and Rogers Street
Bank and State streets
Colman Street and Redden Avenue
Connecticut Avenue and W. Coit Street
Map: Scott Ritter/The Day — Sources: NLPD; CartoDB
Shots fired
New London police have responded to six shootings between Feb. 18 and March 25
Hawthorne Drive
New London
Colman St and Ashcraft Rd
Bank and State streets
Jefferson Ave and Rogers St
Connecticut Ave and W. Coit St
Colman St and Redden Ave
Map: Scott Ritter/The Day — Sources: NLPD; CartoDB
Of the earlier shootings, two resulted in death or injuries, including an apparent attempted murder-suicide inside a Hawthorne Drive apartment on Saturday that ended with a man dead and a woman in critical condition.
Police Chief Brian Wright said all the incidents are being actively investigated, though only one individual has so far been charged. Wright declined to speculate on whether any of the shootings are connected.
"It is a concerning issue, but I want to assure community members that we are fully committed to combating gun violence," he said. "I wish these kinds of investigations were short and quick, but there's evidence to collect, the lab testing of evidence, interviews and chasing down tips and leads. It's not always a quick turnaround."
Decoding a pattern of violence
Most of the shootings seemed to follow a similar pattern: A report of gunshots, a police search that turned up spent shells or property damage, and an ensuing investigation. The earlier incidents were:
∎ On the night of Feb. 18, police responded to the area of Rogers Street and Jefferson Avenue for a shooting in which bullets struck a home and a vehicle. Rakim Thorton, 32, of 36 Georgiana St. was later charged in the shooting, the only person police have so far charged in connection with any of the recent shootings.
∎ On Feb. 25, police responding to a report of a shooting in the area of West Coit Street and Connecticut Avenue found multiple shell casings at the scene. Police said the shooting did not appear to be a random act.
∎ On March 2, an 18-year-old man walked into Lawrence + Memorial Hospital's emergency department with a gunshot wound to his hand. He told police the injury was a result of a shooting earlier that night in the area of Colman Street and Redden Avenue.
∎ On March 17, police were again called out for a shooting report, this time in the downtown area of Bank and State streets. Again, multiple shell casings were found. Again, police officials deemed the incident a targeted attack.
∎ On Saturday, a man died and woman was left in critical condition after an apparent attempted murder/suicide in a Hawthorne Drive apartment.
An investigation into Monday's shooting in the residential area of Colman Street and Ashcraft Road once again turned up expended bullet casings. Several nearby residents on Tuesday said they were not aware of the shooting until well after after the bullets stopped flying.
"My nephew, who lives a street over, called me and said something was going on," said Val Paucer, who's lived near Ashcraft Road for a decade. "I've never heard shots since I've been here; I've been more worried about car accidents at the end of the street."
Clava Jones, a neighborhood resident for 15 years, called the gunplay "surprising."
"It's really a very, very quiet street," she said Tuesday as she prepped an area in front of her home for flower beds.
Officials: New London not an outlier
Mayor Michael Passero characterized the recent shootings as a series of unconnected incidents being aggressively investigated.
"These do not reflect on our city as much as the gun culture in our country," he said Tuesday. "We are not immune from those impacts, but we are certainly not experiencing gun violence at the level of other cities in the state."
Though other southeastern Connecticut towns and cities do experience targeted gun violence within their borders, including a fatal October shooting in Norwich, no other shootings have been reported in the region this year outside of New London.
Passero said the city's "top-notch" police department routinely identifies and arrests shooting suspects.
"This offers robust deterrence," he said. "When these incidents happen in New London, our police department moves quickly to ensure that any risk to the general public is minimized."
Wright, the police chief, agreed that no single municipality has a monopoly on gun violence. He said addressing the problem requires police and residents to remain allies.
"Even one incident of gun violence is too many and no one should be walking or driving in the city with their head on a swivel," Wright said. "We need the community to come forward if they know there's any issue on their street that might lead to violence, to provide us with tips, as even the slightest ones can help us make arrests.
"And that all requires a stronger relationship with all the stakeholders."
