“What I saw was a chaotic scene. You had people yelling, you heard sirens in the background,” recalled New Haven Fire Department Lt. Leon Brown.
Brown knew what he had to do when gunfire rang out outside his home Monday night.
“You never want to hear anything about a policeman or a fireman getting shot, and being that it was my front door, it wasn’t good,” Brown said.
Brown, who was off-duty at the time, said he had no idea that Captain Anthony Duff, a 20-year veteran of the New Haven police department was wounded.
Duff was also off-duty when he found himself in the middle of gunfire. As he tried to intervene, Duff was shot three times, including in the arm and the chest. 46-year-old Troy Clark of West Haven was killed. Brown said he attended to Clark as he laid on the sidewalk.
“It’s upsetting. Especially through violence, it’s not good,” Brown said of Clark’s death.
“People don’t care if the cop is there or not. They’re going to do what they’re going to do because they want to do it,” Chaz Carmon, President of Ice the Beef, said.
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The anti-gun violence organization led a prayer vigil Friday night for Clark and Duff. Faith leaders were also expected to call for an end to the violence which has surged in the Elm City this summer.
“When you’re fighting against gun violence you get breaks. You don’t see a light at the end of the tunnel,” he said of their fight to end the violence.
His neighbors on edge, Brown, a father of two, says he’s still shaken by the shooting.
“Does it make you nervous as you go out and do your job?” we asked.
“Yes, very much so,” he replied.
Duff is still recovering in the hospital and received his first visitors Thursday. Meanwhile, New Haven police have not identified the suspect, who is still at large.
