THE INNER-CITY NEWS - March 01, 2023 - March 07, 2023
Arrests, Lockdowns Detailed After Shootings by THOMAS BREEN New Haven Independent
A likely miscommunication between police dispatch and the school district’s security team caused 10 schools to go into some form of lockdown during an East Rock drive-by shootout — which, thanks to quick police work, has led to two arrests and the confiscation of four guns, one of which has now been connected to the crime scene. City Police Chief Karl Jacobson and Mayor Justin Elicker provided those updates Tuesday afternoon during a press conference held on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. The presser took place one day after the occupants of two different cars shot nearly two dozen bullets at one another soon after 8 a.m. on Monday as the vehicles drove through Edwards, Livingston, and Lawrence Streets in the East Rock neighborhood. While the moving cars, and at least one parked car, were hit during the fusillade of gunfire, miraculously enough, no one appears to have been injured. That incident led to 10 schools going into temporary lockdowns — at first full, then partial — after an apparent miscommunication between police dispatchers and the school district’s security team over whether or not Monday’s drive-by shooting was an “active shooter” incident. Following the morning’s harrowing shootout, some community members, including those who attended Monday night’s East Rock Community Manage-
THOMAS BREEN PHOTO Police Chief Jacobson (right), with Asst. Chief Ettienne and Mayor Elicker, offering arrest update Tuesday.
ment Team meeting, have asked why so many schools — even those not immediately proximate to the shootout — were put in lockdown. (See more on that meeting below.) Jacobson said on Tuesday that police found 23 cartridge casings “throughout a couple different city blocks” after the Monday morning shootout. With the help of community-provided video evidence
and statements, police tracked down an Acura MDX, one of the cars they believe was involved in the incident, to Hamden. They tracked down another car they believed was involved, a Dodge Durango, to Fair Haven. “Through investigative efforts,” the city police department’s shooting task force and criminal intelligence unit working with state and Hamden police “deter-
mined that the persons responsible for the gunfire” may have fled to a house on Newhall Street in Hamden “which police have identified as a known location for criminal activity,” Jacobson continued. “After conducting surveillance,” cops observed and then arrested two individuals, one a 19-year-old and the other an 18-year-old, who exited that Newhall Street house, Jacobson said. He said police found two handguns — a Mossberg MC1SC 9mm and a Glock 22 .40 caliber — on those individuals. Both have been charged with criminal possession of a firearm, possessing weapons in a motor vehicle, pistol without a permit, high-capacity magazines, and larceny of a motor vehicle. The police chief said that city cops soon thereafter obtained a search warrant for the Newhall Street house. That search yielded the seizure of two more handguns –a Sig Sauer .357 and a Springfield XD .40 caliber. “The investigation for the gunfire has been assigned to the shooting task force,” Jacobson said. He said that cops anticipate making more arrests thanks to these gun seizures. After the presser, Jacobson said that city cops have received lab test results from the state confirming that fired cartridge casings found at the crime scene match the 9mm gun seized at the Newhall Street house. “It was a crazy scene, with gunfire in
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“Flower Lady” Sidewalk Biz Re-Blossoms by LISA REISMAN
New Haven Independent
With a box of 250 roses and a few hundred other flowers, as well as an assortment of balloons, “flower lady” Annette Walton figured she was well-stocked for her grand reopening in front of Yale’s Humanities Quadrangle on York Street between Wall and Elm. Around an hour later, those hundreds of flowers were mostly gone. Walton, who’s been selling flowers since the 1990s around Yale’s downtown campus, re-set up shop on York Street last week after an almost three-year hiatus. She saw her street-vending license expire during the pandemic when the university went remote starting in March 2020. A hardy band of Yale students and alumni jumped through hoops for her at City Hall and launched a university-wide GoFundMe campaign that raised $1,500 to help her business re-blossom. The reason for the overwhelming response to the reopening, according to Yale School of Drama alumnus Arthur Nacht, was simple. “She’s a wonderful person, a special
LISA REISMAN PHOTO Annette Walton back at work on York St.
woman,” said Nacht, as he stood on the sidewalk amid a hive of students buzzing around the “Flower Lady” on a pictureperfect Valentine’s Day; he met Walton in 2003 while a student at the drama school. “Plus she has a million friends.”
Among them is senior Adam Zhang, who returned with four boxes of 1,000 roses. “It was really a community effort,” “You’re amazing, Annette,” said senior Katie Smith, a history major, who was standing nearby. She met Walton early on
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in her time at Yale. They hit it off. Every Wednesday, she, along with her friend Averil Walters, bring her coffee. “We sit on the wall and chat for a couple of hours,” Smith said. “Best part of my day.” Emme Magliato, who organized the GoFundMe campaign with Zhang, had a similar take. “I met Annette during my first year and I felt really connected to her,” she said. “I had a hard time connecting on campus at Yale, coming from a lower-income background. I feel like every time I see Annette, it brings joy into my day.” She watched another student ask for another five roses. “This is huge for her not just for today but also for the future,” she said. “When we set up the campaign, her husband had just passed away, and we wanted to make sure she felt supported and had community around her to help her get her license and keep her busy and engaged.” Zhang, who met her in fall 2021, agreed. “I felt very connected to Annette, and I saw an opportunity to really help someCon’t on page 12
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