New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said the department is making progress in gun arrests and focusing on not just those who are found with weapons but also applying more severe charges for shots fired.
At this point last year, Jacobson said, there were 52 guns seized and 46 gun-related arrests. On Wednesday he said the numbers are 80 guns seized and 58 gun arrests so far in 2023.
And when it comes to shots fired, the department is using more severe charges for those who fire weapons at others, putting lives in jeopardy.
“In the past that might be a charge of unlawful discharge or something minor,” Jacobson said of shots fired incidents. “It is criminal attempt to commit assault in the first degree.”
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That’s the charge more often used by the department in solving crimes where shots are fired without injury.
During the news conference, Jacobson discussed an incident from late February where suspects in two vehicles fired rounds at each other along streets in the East Rock neighborhood. The daytime shooting caused schools to go into lockdown.
“Officers located 28 fired cartridge casings in the area of Livingston, Edwards, Lawrence, Orange and Foster [streets],” Jacobson said.
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Christopher Perry and Angelo Gibson were charged with possession of a high-capacity magazine and larceny of a motor vehicle. Jacobson added that Perry is also charged with criminal attempt to commit assault first degree.
He said it’s one way of taking dangerous people off the street.
Another is with Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed bill HB 6667 “An Act Addressing Gun Violence,” which includes measures that mayors of the state’s largest cities have proposed, including ways to keep repeat violent offenders off the streets longer for gun-related arrests.
“Increasing the bail for a very small group of people that are engaged in a high amount of violence in our cities,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said.
“We need to keep some people in, we don’t need to keep everybody in, but under this legislation, I think it’s moving in the right direction,” Jacobson said.
He added it may have prevented some of the crimes allegedly committed by members of the Exit 8 gang who were recently indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges, including murder and attempted murder.
“I believe two of them would have been in [jail] at the time of their violent crime incident,” Jacobson said.
The bill advanced on Wednesday and is poised for a vote by the entire assembly.
It’s co-sponsored by 26 lawmakers, including Mary Welander, of Orange, who said the bill just had an important step forward and it includes measures that could make a difference, like a 10-day waiting period to purchase guns.
“That way, if it's someone is doing something out of anger or feelings of self-harm, there's a cooling off period, there's a time where you could ask for help, there's a time for other people to intervene,” Welander said.
There is opposition to the bill.
During a public hearing earlier this month, opponents were concerned it wouldn’t actually address gun violence in Connecticut cities and would hurt law-abiding gun owners.
The federal charges announced Monday against alleged Exit 8 gang members Jaedyn Rivera, Tyjon Preston, Samuel Douglas, Quaymar Suggs, Kiveon Hyman, and Donell Allick Jr. also closed two murder cases for the New Haven Police department.
So far in 2023, officers made arrests in seven cases from multiple years and said they made arrests in seven cases in all of 2022.
