By Zach Murdock
The Hartford Courant
HARTFORD, Conn. — Four men were shot outside the Bridgeport courthouse Monday in what appeared to be a targeted, drive-by shooting related to the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old boy over the weekend, officials said.
Two of the men suffered serious injuries and were in surgery Monday and two others suffered minor injuries, according to police. All four were expected to survive.
Police apprehended three suspects within two hours of the shooting after a brief police pursuit that was captured in part on live television as police cars zoomed behind Mayor Joe Ganim while he addressed the incident to reporters outside the Bridgeport police headquarters.
“This is not something we take lightly, we don’t tolerate this,” Ganim told reporters after the cruisers sped past. “Our department, as you’ll hear from our chief, is on this. No homicide, no shooting is going to go unanswered in this city by the Bridgeport Police Department. This is not something that was random, it appears this was targeted and related to something that may have happened over the weekend as well.”
Chief Armando Perez then told reporters that the pursuit had ended and three suspects, believed to be connected to the courthouse shooting, were in custody.
“The sirens you just heard, that was our police officers pursuing the vehicle that was involved in this whole act of violence … We do not tolerate anything like this in the city of Bridgeport,” Perez said. “Tonight this city is going to be locked down and we are going to be protecting the good people who live in this city.”
A fourth person was still being sought Monday afternoon, Perez said, and state police said in a statement that troopers have deployed in Bridgeport to support local officers and “promote de-escalation and prevent retaliation.”
The incident unfolded at about 12:15 p.m. EST on the curb outside the courthouse on Golden Hill Street in downtown Bridgeport, police said.
One car pulled up alongside another vehicle parked outside the courthouse and someone in the vehicle that pulled up opened fire on the four men inside the parked car, police said. Those four men were all shot. Three of the wounded men went into the courthouse for cover while the injured driver remained in the vehicle until he was assisted by paramedics. The shooters sped away in their vehicle, police said.
An attorney who was present at the courthouse witnessed the entire scene unfold and said it was a drive-by shooting, firing the shots and immediately fleeing while at least two of the people in the car got out and collapsed on the courthouse steps, the lawyer said.
Court marshals locked down the courthouse and began to treat the wounded inside, doing a “phenomenal job” to keep those inside the courthouse safe and protect the victims, Capt. Brian Fitzgerald said. Bridgeport police were on the scene in less than 60 seconds and two victims were taken to Bridgeport Hospital and two to St. Vincent’s Medical Center, he added.
The department’s ShotSpotter system recorded at least 20 gunshots being fired but detectives were still combing the scene for shell casings mid-afternoon Monday, Fitzgerald said. The courthouse was shut down for the remainder of the day, officials said.
The Golden Hill courthouse was shut down for the remainder of the day and any cases that could not be continued either were finished inside or transferred to the Main Street courthouse, officials said. Once those cases were complete, staff members were allowed to leave if they chose to.
Police believe the courthouse drive-by shooting is related to the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old boy at the Greene Homes public housing complex late Sunday. They cautioned the investigation was very preliminary but conceded that a spate of recent shootings are tied to young men involved in an ongoing dispute, including in the Greene Homes area.
“We’re struggling with ongoing disputes between juvenile group members throughout the city who unfortunately are using gun violence right now to solve their problems,” Fitzgerald said.
Ganim said he had spoken with Gov. Ned Lamont and leadership of the Connecticut State Police and already is planning to request state troopers to descend on the city to help beef up police presence in certain areas. Ganim pointed to the program Lamont and state police initiated last summer to send troopers into Hartford, New Haven and Bridgeport to partner with local officers during spikes in summertime gun violence.
“I’ll be supportive of not just greater police presence in our city, but greater security, maybe funding for security through the General Assembly, for courthouses,” Ganim said. “These are obviously places around which these things can happen … and even what was so successful in the past when state troopers joined the Bridgeport Police Department and I know police departments in other cities.”
(Staff writer Amanda Blanco contributed to this report.)
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