A 29-year-old man wanted for murder in Waterbury was captured Friday in Seymour, according to police.
Seymour police identified the suspect as Keyshon Zimmerman.
He was taken into custody on Davis Road and turned over to the Waterbury Police Department, according to Seymour Deputy Chief Paul Satkowski.
On Thursday, police all over the region were told Zimmerman was wanted on a murder warrant out of Waterbury, according to police.
The precise details of the alleged homicide weren’t immediately available Friday afternoon, but Waterbury police charged Zimmerman last month with six criminal charges in connection to a shooting in that city, court records show.
Zimmerman allegedly shot a man in the leg as the result of a possible drug dispute, according to the Republican-American in Waterbury.
The Rep-Am reported that the shooting may have been “related to the slaying of a 49-year-old man shot to death in the same area” a few days prior.
Court records show Zimmerman was free after posting a $500,000 bond.
A message seeking more info was left Friday with Waterbury investigators.
Spotted In Derby
An all-points bulletin saying police had secured a warrant on Zimmerman was sent to police all over the state on Thursday.
While on a routine patrol Friday, Derby Detective Timothy Conlon recognized Zimmerman in a vehicle on Roosevelt Drive. That was at about 10:50 a.m.
“(Conlon) attempted to stop it, but the vehicle fled,” said Derby Police Lt. Justin Stanko.
The detective was in an unmarked car, and opted not to engage in a pursuit out of concern for the public’s safety, Stanko said.
Derby police notified Seymour police the car was heading west on Roosevelt Drive into Seymour.
Then …
“Our officers were alerted to that and began heading toward Roosevelt Drive,” Seymour Police Deputy Chief Paul Satkowski said. “An officer on his way to Roosevelt spotted the car on Botsford Road. He got behind the vehicle and notified dispatch, obviously.”
The two cars turned onto Davis Road — where two Seymour police officers happened to be directing traffic within a construction zone.
“A motor vehicle stop was conducted. Zimmerman stopped his vehicle, he was identified and he was taken into custody,” Satkowski said.
“Waterbury was notified, he was turned over to detectives and he was taken to Waterbury to be processed,” the deputy chief said.
Seymour Police used Twitter to tell the public what was happening:
29 Yr old Waterbury murder suspect Keyshon Zimmerman was captured by Seymour Police Officers a short time ago on Davis Rd in Seymour
— Seymour Police Dept. (@SeymourPoliceCT) September 5, 2014Zimmerman was taken into custody without incident and turned over to Waterbury Police Detectives who held a warrant for him for murder
— Seymour Police Dept. (@SeymourPoliceCT) September 5, 2014History
Zimmerman is well known to police in Ansonia and Derby, where authorities have accused him of being a key player in local narcotic sales.
In 2012, Ansonia police identified him as the leader of a violent and highly organized group of dealers operating in the greater Valley area.
The group’s alleged criminal activity was interrupted June 1, 2012 when police — after a lengthy investigation — arrested nine people in five towns on a variety of criminal charges, mostly related to drug dealing. Police raids that day resulted in the seizure of crack cocaine, cash, two stolen handguns, and three stun guns.
In court documents related to those arrests, the Ansonia Police Department’s Anti-Crime Unit said Zimmerman led the group, even though he was behind bars at the time at the Enfield Correctional Institution, where he was serving time for three criminal charges dating back to 2009. He got out of prison in April 2013.
Click here for more on his background.
Derby police believe Zimmerman and his associates were connected to a string of drug-related violent incidents that plagued the city in 2009, including the unsolved homicide of Rodney Baldwin on Hawthorne Avenue.
In addition, police believe an ambush-style shooting on Chapel Street in Derby in 2009 was motivated by Zimmerman’s associates, who were out for revenge after Zimmerman was shot in the face in New Haven.
Zimmerman’s younger brother, Javon, 22, was killed in a shooting outside RJ’s Cafe, a bar on Elizabeth Street in Derby.
Police said that Javon was part of the group selling drugs throughout the lower Valley.
Javon Zimmerman’s killer, Cordaryl Silva, was sentenced to 50 years in prison in June.
That killing was allegedly motivated by Silva’s belief that the Zimmerman crew was not showing proper respect to Silva’s brother, who was serving time in prison for crimes committed while he allegedly ran with the Zimmerman crew.
