A UConn student was shot and killed in Hartford Tuesday night in what police say appears to be a marijuana deal gone wrong.
A University of Connecticut student has died after he was shot during an attempted marijuana robbery in Hartford on Tuesday night, according to police.
Officers were called to High Street at Walnut Street around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday night after getting a report of a crash.
When police arrived, emergency crews said they found a man, later identified as 18-year-old Zaid Deje Langs-Myers, of Windsor, with gunshot wounds outside of the vehicle.
Langs-Myers was transported to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
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University of Connecticut officials said Lang-Myers was a student and was enrolled at UConn Hartford during the 2022-2023 academic year.
UConn released a statement about Lang-Myers' death saying, "the UConn community is deeply shocked and grief stricken by this tragic loss and our thoughts are with Zaid's family and friends."
"I hear he was a UConn student. Yeah. I also believe that he's never been in trouble before. So unfortunate," Lt. Aaron Boisvert, of the Hartford Police Department, said.
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Lang-Myers was also a graduate of A.I. Prince Technical School in Hartford, according to the school system.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with Zaid's family and friends. Zaid was well-known among the students and staff at our school. He was a student-athlete at Prince participating in track and basketball," the school said in a statement.
"The loss of a young life is an immense tragedy, and we understand the profound impact this has had on his loved ones. The Prince Tech community extends our deepest condolences to them during this incredibly difficult time,” the statement goes on to say.
"It's horrible, it's horrible. It's horrible when anybody dies. This is [homicide] number 12 for the year," Boisvert added.
At the crash scene, authorities said there was quite a bit of marijuana around the vehicle. Police believe the robbery of marijuana was the motive for the shooting.
A passenger who was in the vehicle was not harmed and has spoken with police.
Investigators said they used the cameras to backtrack the vehicle and determined it had been on Brook Street prior to the crash.
"To be honest with you, in this case the camera system helped pretty well with that. The officers were able to get over there quickly and establish where this shooting actually occurred," Boisvert said.
Investigators found evidence of a shooting on Brook Street. Officers said they are working on some pretty strong leads to determine a suspect.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the HPD Tip Line at (860) 722-8477.
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