A loaded handgun discovered by police in the front yard of a Shelton home has been linked to a Derby man — nearly five years after the weapon was found.
The man, Maurice Beall, 34, was charged Wednesday at Superior Court in Derby with criminal possession of a handgun.
It’s the latest charge against Beall, who has been behind bars since last February, when police say he tried to run over Ansonia police officer Joseph Jackson.
Beall was trying to flee after a minor car accident on the Maple Street bridge in Ansonia, police allege.
Jackson shot Beall, but Beall was able to drive to Derby, where he was captured by police.
The new gun charge lodged Wednesday is the result of DNA tests, according to an arrest warrant written by Shelton Police Detective Christopher Nugent.
New Charge
The charge dates back nearly five years, to a police probe of a December 2010 shooting on Howe Avenue, where Beall was living at the time.
At the time, residents at an address across the street from Beall’s told detectives they had heard a single gunshot the night of Dec. 19, 2010.
No one was hit by the bullet. An informant told one of the detectives that the shooter was Beall, though the target of the alleged shooting was unknown, the warrant says.
Two days later, police obtained a search warrant and raided Beall’s home, but Beall fled as cops approached the residence.
The police department’s dog, Jager, tracked Beall about a mile to the area of the War Memorial on the Shelton Riverwalk.
“After two announcements (Beall) stated that he was coming out of a wooded area and not to send the dog,” the warrant says.
The next morning, the warrant says cops searched the route from Beall’s house to the War Memorial for any evidence Beall might have discarded while running away.
They found a loaded .40-caliber High Point handgun “which appeared to have been discarded” in the front yard of a Howe Avenue home. They sent it to the state police forensic lab for testing.
In the meantime, Beall was arrested on drug charges for which court records indicate he received a 33-month prison sentence in February 2011.
But police did not definitively link the gun to Beall until this January, when the warrant says state cops sent Shelton police an “offender hit notification” indicating Beall’s DNA was found on the gun.
That’s because a judge had ordered Beall to provide state cops with DNA samples to see whether the bloody gun found in Derby after he was shot in Ansonia by Officer Jackson was his.
Authorities believe Beall fled the scene of a minor crash in Ansonia in February because he knew the gun in his possession would be discovered by police.
Nugent got two “confirmatory” DNA samples from Beall in February, when Beall was at court in Derby on the for an appearance.
A couple weeks later, state police said the DNA from Beall matched DNA found on the magazine of the gun.
Beall was arraigned on the new charge Wednesday, where Judge Peter Brown set bond on the new gun charge at $25,000.
Beall’s lawyer, Gregory Cerritelli, pointed out the new charge lodged Wednesday dates back nearly five years.
“I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference at all in the (plea) negotiations,” Cerritelli said.
Cerritelli disputes Jackson’s account of the shooting, and says the physical evidence in the case will help his client.
The lawyer said he’s still waiting for the results of a state police “use of force” investigation on the shooting, as well as Jackson’s personnel file, before substantive discussions with prosecutors can happen.
