Valley Independent Sentinel

‘There Was So Much Blood’

by Jodie Mozdzer | Nov 16, 2009 8:58 pm

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Posted to: Ansonia, Police

Ansonia —

Angel Ogman was walking through the Riverside Apartment complex with her 6-month-old son Monday when she saw a man run out of a unit, holding onto his leg.

The man had been shot, and was bleeding through his pants.

Ogman grabbed her son’s baby wipes.

“There was so much blood,” Ogman said. “You could take his pants and just squeeze it out.”

Ogman said she tried to use the baby wipes to stop the bleeding in his leg while ambulance crews and police arrived on scene.

The man, who has not been identified by police, was shot in his upper right leg, Ogman said. He was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital with non-life threatening injuries, according to Police Chief Kevin Hale.

Hale said the victim was inside Apartment #50 when he was shot.

Police are still investigating. They said the suspect fled the scene in a blue car.

Neighbors said a gunman knocked on the door of the apartment and started shooting when someone opened the door.

“He said he didn’t know who did this,” Ogman said.

Afternoon Shootings

The shooting was the latest in a season of violence at the complex, and the second mid-day shooting since October.

On Oct. 22, 14 bullets were lodged into two separate cars in a 1:30 p.m. shooting. No one was injured in that incident.

This summer, two women were killed in separate incidents. On June 22, resident Jennifer Lewis was fatally stabbed on a balcony of one of the
units.

Then in July, Bernice McFadden, 39, was shot and killed when a man entered the courtyard and shot into the crowd.

An arrest has been made in the June 22 stabbing, but no one has been arrested for the July shooting yet.

“It’s quite brazen,” said Ansonia Housing Authority Executive Director James Finnucan about the afternoon shootings. “I don’t know what to say about it. Certainly, getting caught is the last thing on their mind.”

Several residents said they were upset by the recent violence.

“It’s to the point where my child doesn’t want to live out here anymore,” said Keisha Sloan. “People are getting fed up.”

The afternoon shootings “just lets them know these people don’t care about the police,” said resident Latoya Smith.

Malika Mosely, the president of the residents’ association, said her mother has urged her to move back to New York.

“This is getting too scary,” Mosely said. “But I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to run. I live here.”

Security Guards

The residents’ association has been a leading force to get better security measures put in place at the apartment complex.

After the summer murders, the association has pushed the Housing Authority to make changes to help keep residents safe. The Housing Authority opened a satellite office at the complex and suggested several other measures, such as identification cards for residents, a night curfew and stricter visiting policies.

But after the residents resisted some of the measures due to civil rights concerns, the housing authority dropped most of them.

Monday morning, just a couple hours before the shooting, Housing Authority officials met with the residents’ association to talk about hiring security guards.

The idea was well received, Finnucan said, and the housing authority planned to research pricing and present a plan to the full Housing Authority Board of Directors.

But after Monday’s shooting, even that idea seemed futile.

“You almost need a guard for everyone,” Finnucan said, shaking his head.

Mosely noted the proposal wouldn’t have made a difference Monday because they discussed staffing the security guards at night.

“Even putting in place what we discussed, what would that have done during the day?” Mosely asked rhetorically.

“Something has to be done. I have no idea what it is,” Mosely said. “All my options (for security) wouldn’t have changed anything today.”

Where Do Students Go When There’s a Shooting?

The shootings have have a residual effect on the school system, which has to make a decision whether to put children from the neighborhood on a bus that will take them into a potentially dangerous situation.

After parents were concerned with the response to the Oct. 22 shooting, school officials have sat down with resident leaders and worked out an emergency plan.

Less than a week went by after the plan was ironed out that it had to be put into action.

Monday, when Superintendent Carol Merlone heard about the shooting, she said she called police to determine whether it was safe for children to be dropped off at bus stops in the neighborhood.

Merlone said police gave her the OK, and the buses ran as normal.

But parents were concerned Monday afternoon because they didn’t know what to expect.

“All our kids are going to be relocated,” said Sloan, who has a 7-year-old son in the Ansonia school system. “It’s ridiculous. They won’t bring them here because of this.”

On Oct. 22, the students who lived in the neighborhood were held at school at dismissal time, Merlone said, and then brought to the Ansonia Middle School, which is closer to the neighborhood to accommodate parents picking them up.

Merlone said students who couldn’t get picked up got a police escort home later that afternoon.

The following was posted at 1:37 p.m. Monday

Ansonia police are at the scene of an apparent shooting on Olson Drive.

It is not clear whether there is a victim.

Police have been on the scene for a few minutes and are assessing the situation. An ambulance was sent there as well.

Police have converged on the Riverside Apartments, on the side nearest the community center.

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