(disclaimer, they are not sure yet if these folks are illegals)
06/19/2007
Cops grill husband in shootings
William Kaempffer , Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Police Monday questioned and released the husband of a woman shot to death with another man late Sunday in a double homicide in the West River neighborhood.
Police Sgt. Lisa Dadio, second-in-command in the detective bureau, wouldn't discuss the interview or confirm it even occurred. But several police officials said the man had been questioned by detectives overnight, but has not been charged.

Advertisement

No one has been arrested in the latest city homicides, the fifth and six of this month. There had only been one killing in the first five months of 2007.

Police Monday did not identify Sunday's victims other than to say they were in their late 30s or early 40s. Information from their families were that both were Mexican, she said.

"Documented or undocumented. I know that's a big question that everyone has. We don't have that answer now," she said.

The city administration is embroiled in a dispute with federal immigration officials over raids targeting illegal immigrants in Greater New Haven. The raids came two days after the city announced a new immigrant-friendly municipal ID card that could help undocumented workers obtain bank accounts and city services.

Even if people involved in Sunday's violence were to end up being undocumented — and Mayor John DeStefano Jr. wouldn't comment on whether that was the case — he said that only illustrates the city's position that it is better to know who is in your community than to have people living in the margins.

The two victims Sunday night were shot to death behind 1494 Chapel St., about a block from the Hospital of Saint Raphael. Police were called after a worker at the Haven Market, 1492 Chapel St., went to the shared rear parking lot at closing time and noticed the woman, motionless.

"I noticed one body on the (ground). I told my brother to call police. I thought she might be drunk," said Adnan Mohammed, working the counter Monday at the market. When police arrived and illuminated the area, they discovered a double-murder scene. The man's body was in an older wood-paneled minivan. Police Sunday said both had been shot in the head. Dadio said Monday that detectives were awaiting autopsy results.

People congregating on the porch of 1494 Chapel St. Monday declined comment, and Dadio wouldn't say whether either victim lived there. She declined to say whether police considered the slaying to be domestic.

Democratic mayoral candidate James Newton, who is challenging Mayor John DeStefano Jr., called on DeStefano Monday to ask Gov.M. Jodi Rell to send in state troopers to help stem the tide of violence in the city.

"If the mayor spent half his time and concerns on escalating violence in the city of New Haven as he has on municipal ID cards for illegal immigrants, New Haven would be a safer city for everyone and would have no need for a citizen's patrol with guns, nor a need for the (Guardian Angels) to be in New Haven," Newton said. He was referring to a group of Edgewood residents who launched an armed safety patrol, taking neighborhood security into their own hands because they say police aren't doing enough. They invited the New York-based Guardian Angels to join them.

Green Party mayoral candidate Ralph Ferrucci also was highly critical of the mayor and police, saying the Edgewood patrol and Guardian Angels presence show the Police Department has "failed the residents of the city."

DeStefano later said the city has partnered with the state police to conduct narcotics enforcement in the city and combat auto theft, but said history has shown that having troopers in neighborhoods doesn't add value because they don't know the community.

So far, none of this year's homicides, except for the two Sunday, appear to be connected nor has anyone been charged in any of them. Dadio said detectives have solid motives in four and expect to make arrests.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police ask anyone with information about any of the homicides to call 946-6304.





©New Haven Register 2007
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm ... 0581&rfi=6