Police Arrest Man Who Fired at Officers: Cops

The arrest was part of an extensive search for weapons connected to multiple shootings in New Haven.

Police arrested a Georgia man in Hamden early Tuesday morning who is suspected of firing at officers executing a search warrant at a New Haven apartment complex early Sunday morning.

Terrance Brown, who stays at a Presidential Garden housing complex at 573 Dixwell Avenue in New Haven when he's not in Georgia, is a suspect in multiple shootings in New Haven, police said.

He fled the housing complex, firing at police, but officers located him at 151 Grandview Avenue in Hamden and arrested him inside the home. Local police surrounded the address at 4 a.m. on Tuesday. New Haven officers and detectives from the department's patrol and investigative services divisions also responded, along with an FBI and U.S. Marshall task forces and the Criminal Intelligence Unity.

During the search for Brown in New Haven, police also arrested four others  Jason Kelly, Tavares Cotton, Howard Lewis and Jalmore Little on unrelated charges in a car matching a description of the vehicle Brown was driving. While Brown wasn't in the car, police found a Hi-Point .40 caliber Smith & Wesson and an Intratec .9 millimeter handgun, 51 grams of crack cocaine and $2,000 in cash.

Police at the scene said the initial search of the home Brown was staying at was connected to the shooting of a 57-year-old woman Saturday night. Police were looking for illegal guns possibly connected to multiple shootings in New Haven, police said.

New Haven police said Celia Mitchell was driving on the 500 block of Dixwell Avenue when a bullet pierced her car window and struck her shoulder.

Just a few hours later, detectives and officers from the Criminal Intelligence Unit, Major Crimes Division, Shooting Task Force, Street Interdiction Unit and SWAT executed a search and seizure warrant at the Dixwell Avenue residence.

As police searched the home Sunday, Brown fled from the back around 3  a.m., firing shots at detectives who were in the rear of the property, police said. Police said no one was injured. Officers did not return fire and didn't catch a glimpse of the shooter or shooters.

Police found an assault rifle and semi-automatic handgun with an extended magazine while searching the area.

Police charged Brown with carrying a pistol without a permit, first-degree reckless endangerment, criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault, unlawful discharge of a firearm and interfering with police. He is being held on a $250,00 bond.

Kelly, Cotton and Lewis, all convicted felons, and Jalmor Little were charged with criminal possession of a firearm, having a weapon in a motor vehicle, altering the serial number on a gun, possession of narcotics, possession of a controlled substance and possession of narcotics with the intent to sell.

While the latter four arrests are separate from Brown's case, police said all five are part of the department's "crackdown and series of investigations into recent shootings and gun violence particularly in the month of May," according to a news release from the department.

Police, who are looking into ballistic evidence from several crime scenes, said that one of the guns recovered at Presidential Gardens that they believe Brown used to fire at officers was a common gun used in many city shootings. The department expects to make further arrests in recent shooting cases soon.

"The department hasn't rested in its pursuit of justice," New Haven Police Chief Dean M. Esserman said. There are a few who are responsible for several recent shootings and incidents of gunfire. Brown's arrest is not the first in the past two weeks tied to this violence. Five guns have been recovered in a week tied to those investigations."

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