A New Haven community is in mourning the loss of a 15-year-old to gun violence in the Hill North neighborhood.
A New Haven community is in mourning the loss of a 15-year-old to gun violence in the Hill North neighborhood.
Police are not sharing the name of the boy publicly. We spoke with people who knew him that say this was a senseless act of gun violence.
“He had a lot of dreams. One of the things he wanted to do was open up an art gallery,” said Leighton Johnson, the founder of ‘I am the Voice of Legacy,” a nonprofit that helps at-risk youth in New Haven.
Johnson said the 15-year-old who was shot and killed was his student in a transitional school program, and he chose him to be a youth ambassador for ‘I am the Voice of Legacy.’
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He said the boy was a funny kid who was wise beyond his years.
"He had people in places to try to stay him away from that, I don’t know what happened, but I know he didn't deserve it,” Johnson said.
Police said they responded to Greenwood Street Tuesday afternoon for a report of gunshots. Police said the boy is from this neighborhood, and they knew him.
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"We have a lot of information from the people in this community, and I thank them. We have a lot of, leads off of cameras and whatnot. But it's still early,” New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said.
Police said they're not sure yet how many people were involved.
As police investigate, community leaders are working with the teen's family.
"We have a mom that’s grieving, a father that's grieving, a community that's grieving,” Alder Angel Hubbard of New Haven’s Ward 3 said.
Hubbard said this is not the first time a child has been killed at the hands of gun violence in the city.
"I’m so tired of this violence, this senseless act of now a father and mother have to bury another child from the City of New Haven,” Hubbard said.
"We have to hold on to our babies, because he was a baby,” Johnson said.
New Haven police say this is the fifth homicide this year.
