Two people are in police custody after a triple shooting in New Haven injured three people, one of them critically, when gunfire was exchanged near Sargent and Long Wharf drives Friday morning.
The shooting sent three local schools into lockdown as a precaution, and police roped off the area while they investigated the scene around 10:20 a.m.
All three people involved are young, and the shooting was not a random incident, police said.
Police have arrested 20-year-old Jose Antonio Rodriguez Aponte, 25-year-old Luis Rodriguez and 25-year-old Michael Claudio, a convicted felon.
"The general public knows that, with all great probability, this was not random, that the people involved in the shootout knew one anther and that they were specifically targeting one another," said New Haven police Chief Dean Esserman.
Aponte, who was shot in the head, is hospitalized in critical but stable condition. Rodriguez was shot in the leg. Police said Claudio was not hurt and was taken into custody in a marshy area on Sargent Drive after state police spotted him carrying a gun on traffic cameras nearby.
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Police responded to the intersection this morning after receiving a 911 call and found Aponte bleeding from the head. Based on the preliminary investigation, police believe he had been driving a silver Honda that was struck by bullets. He got out of the car and collapsed at the scene.
A woman who was in the car with him drove away and headed to Vernon Street, where she called someone to report she'd been shot in the foot, according to police.
Both victims were taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where the Aponte is listed in critical but stable condition. The passenger's injuries are not life-threatening, according to police.
Police said Rodriguez was driving another car involved, a black Honda with Maryland plates.
He was also shot, left the scene and lost control of the car on Howard Avenue at Second Street, where he ran, broke into a nearby home, hid on the second floor and called a relative, police said.
Police said the Rodriguez's injuries prevented him from being able to go back downstairs, so officers broke down a door to the home and coaxed him to surrender. He was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital and is listed in stable condition.
"He didn't know if we considered him a suspect and so it was just my job to diffuse the situation for him in his head and make him focus on the fact that he needed medical attention, so that's what I did, and that we were able to help him, not make matters worse," said New Haven police Lt. Otniel Reyes.
Investigators have found four guns they believe are connected to the case and said they expect to make additional arrests. Aponte and Rodriguez have been charged with weapons violations and Claudio has been charged with gun crimes and first-degree assault.
Police said they expect to also charge Rodriguez with burglary for breaking into the home on Second Street.
"There's a lot to piece together, but amazingly, there's a lot of direction in how this is going to go," Esserman said.
A precautionary lockdown was issued for Sound School at 60 South Water Street, Betsy Ross Magnet School at 150 Kimberly Avenue and New Horizons School at 103 Hallock Avenue to make sure all students and staff were safe.
