A 16-year-old has been charged in connection with the crash that killed a 71-year-old grandmother in Hartford on Thursday.
Police said the teen has been remanded to the Juvenile Detention Center on an order to detain and charged with manslaughter in the first degree, evading responsibility resulting in death, and larceny in the second degree.
Police are still investigating and said charges might be upgraded.
Family of 71-year-old Yvonne Smith said the woman, known as the grandmother of her Hartford neighborhood, was on her way to the corner store, something the woman did every day, when she was hit.
Smith was a mother, grandmother and great grandmother and for many, she was a guardian of the neighborhood.
“Everyone around here loved her. Everyone knew her. She'd help you. She'd help your kids. She always had something she wanted to give. She was a beautiful person,” Blake said.
Hartford police said four people in two cars started shooting at each other at Westland and Garden Streets on Thursday and neighbors ran for cover and called 911.
“As one of the vehicles fled from the shooting scene, they struck a pedestrian that was in the roadway,” Lt. Paul Cicero of the Hartford Police Department said.
For hours crime scene tape wrapped around a large area, with a single shoe left in the middle of the road.
The silver Kia that hit and killed Smith crashed into a nearby building. Police said it was stolen from Manchester two days earlier.
Officers found a 17-year-old with a gunshot wound and said he was in stable condition at the hospital, and a 16-year-old.
Police have not identified the 16-year-old who was arrested because of the age.
The 17-year-old is no longer in custody and has not been charged, police said.
Smith’s family said the 71-year-old spent most of her life in Hartford and never wanted to be anywhere else. So for her, they’re asking for help to make the streets safer.
“She loved this community. No matter how much we tried to get her to move out of the community, this was it for her,” Blake said.
A candlelight vigil for Smith will take place Saturday on Nelson Street.
