The man New Haven police were searching for since May in connection with the shootings of two women is dead after a shootout with police in Virginia, according to the New Haven police chief.
The suspect, Tramaine Marquese Poole, 41, is also accused of shooting and killing a Virginia state police dog during a shootout, according to Virginia state police.
Poole was suspected of shooting of his 36-year-old wife on May 7, then shooting and killing 28-year-old Tyekqua Nesbitt in front of her children on May 31, according to police.
Authorities have said the shootings of the two women are connected, but not how.
The family of Tyekqua Nesbitt said they are relieved the manhunt for her killer is over.
“Yesterday was a bittersweet moment and sigh of relief for all of us because we know my sister was able to be at rest now," said her sister Latoya Herbert.
“Even though he's gone it still does not bring 100 percent peace to me. her soul is at rest but we're still hurting,” added Tyekqua's twin Tashauna Nesbitt, who is now raising her sister's two children.
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Authorities had been searching for Poole and New Haven's police chief said Wednesday afternoon that Poole is dead after a shootout with Virginia State Police in Sussex County.
Virginia State Police said that a trooper traveling north on Interstate 95 in Sussex County, Virginia at 8:18 a.m. saw a vehicle that had been reported stolen out of Connecticut and tried to stop the driver, but the person sped away.
During the case, someone in the vehicle started shooting at the trooper's vehicle and took exit 24 and the stolen vehicle approached Loco School and Bell roads, where Virginia State Police stopped the stolen vehicle.
Virginia state police fired at the state police vehicles and one of the suspect's bullets pierced a K9 trooper's back passenger window and struck a state police canine riding in the back seat compartment, Virginia state police said, and did not survive his injuries.
Once the stolen vehicle was stopped, state troopers and the suspect enchanged shots were fired and the male suspect died at the scene, Virginia state police.
A female passenger in the suspect vehicle was transported to a nearby hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
No troopers were injured in the course of the incident.
Virginia state police have not identified the suspect who died in the shootout and a news release from New Haven police said the person Virginia State Police shot "may be" Poole. The positive identification process will likely take some time. Homicide detectives are going to Virginia.
New Haven Police Chief Anthony Campbell said he is “extremely confident” the person who died in the shootout is Poole.
“Once it’s absolutely confirmed, an entire community can rest knowing that they are safe and this killer will no longer be able to harm anyone again, today justice was served,” Campbell said.
The initial investigation into Poole began his wife contacted authorities at 2:20 p.m. Monday, May 7, as she was being driven to the hospital, and reported that her husband had shot her on Henry Street.
Then police somehow linked him to a fatal shooting nearly three weeks later, on May 31.
Police said Nesbitt was in a car with her two children, ages 6 and 11, when she was shot at Wilmot Road and Wintergreen Avenue in New Haven. During a news conference Tuesday, police said the two shootings are connected.
An arrest warrant for Poole in connection with the May 7 shooting includes charges of first-degree assault, risk of injury, criminal possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit and unlawful discharge of a firearm.
Charges for the May 31 slaying include murder, criminal possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit, two counts of risk of injury and unlawful discharge of a firearm.
