From Crime Scene to Book Store
Broad Street Books reopens in Middletown
The Red & Black Cafe inside Broad Street Books is blocked off with a temporary wall. But life is slowly returning to the store.
Just before 1 pm last Wednesday, Johanna Justin-Hinich was shot to death behind the coffee counter of Broad Street Books in Middletown.
Just before 1 pm today, the bookstore reopened.
"I think it's probably a good thing," said Lisa Reade, a senior at Wesleyan University. "Still feeling a little uneasy about it. It's probably a good step to bring things back to normal."
The accused murderer, Stephen Morgan, has been in custody since he surrendered to police last Thursday night. His journal entries threatened Wesleyan and the Jewish community, said police in their arrest warrant, though he specifically targeted the victim.
Wesleyan denied access to reporters and cameras, posting a security guard by the door to the book store. But a contractor said he was building a temporary wall around the specific scene of the murder.
"The cafe's boarded up," said Reade, "but obviously we still need to buy caps and gowns so people will probably keep going back."
Nonstudents who patronized Broad Street Books today approached the door carefully. Lillian Appiah left her three children outside while she went in, not that they wanted to go in.
"I wanted to see, as a mother," she said, "I wanted to see."
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