Hartford Police are investigating the city's 18th homicide of the year.
According to police, shots were fired in the area of 279 Farmington Ave. just before 3 a.m. Saturday.
When police arrived, they located 23-year-old Roberto Vargas of Hartford with several gunshot wounds to the chest. He was rushed to St. Francis Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
"There are cameras on the streets so we're hoping that they prove useful. Obviously, as always, we're asking anybody that has any information to call our anonymous tip line," said Hartford Police Lt. Aaron Boisvert.
This marks the city's 18th homicide of the year. At this time last year, there were 14. The shooting comes on the heels of the deadliest July in the Capital City in the past four years.
"Last month was one of the worst months that we had in Hartford in a while. And now you're telling me we're starting off August the same way," said Rev. Henry Brown, of Mothers United Against Violence.
Given the spike in violence, Mayor Luke Bronin and the police chief have launched a summer violence intitative.
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"Extra patrols," added Lt. Boisvert. "It changes a lot of the officers’ hours from working dayshift to maybe a later shift, evening shift or even an overnight shift to combat the highest time we see violent incidents.”
There are no suspects at this time.
