The suspect in a brutal beating in Ansonia has past connections to the street gang the Latin Kings in Bridgeport, as does his alleged victim.
The information comes from court documents on file in the case against Adan Llanos, a 32-year-old Bridgeport man who was charged by Ansonia police Dec. 24 with first-degree assault and first-degree kidnapping.
Though the Latin Kings’ name is sprinkled throughout an arrest warrant used to charge Llanos, authorities do not believe the crime was gang-related. The documents indicate neither he nor the victim of the assault were active members at the time of the crime.
Llanos is scheduled to appear in Derby Superior Court Jan. 19, but his case may be transferred to court in Milford, where more serious crimes are handled.
On July 24, at about 1:30 a.m., Ansonia police found a naked man bleeding profusely in the parking lot of Nolan Field off Wakelee Avenue. The man appeared to have been dumped there. A clear plastic tarp was underneath his body, and his ripped shirt was wrapped around his neck.
His jaw was broken in two spots. His front teeth were broken. He was bleeding internally, a nurse would say later.
He could not communicate with police, but Ansonia police had no trouble identifying him. They had seen him several hours earlier, when he was arguing in the street with his longtime girlfriend and a second female friend.
The dispute was resolved when the man opted to spend the night at the female friend’s residence on Walkers Court.
While medics took the victim to the hospital — where he would remain for three weeks — Ansonia police officers went directly to the residence on Walkers Court, where the victim was supposed to be spending the night.
A tan Buick Rendezvous was spotted outside the Walkers Court residence. Its doors were open, but no one was inside.
A police officer looked inside and saw what looked like a blood stain. The same officer spotted a large wet spot at the bottom of the steps leading to the residence. It appeared that someone had recently cleaned the spot, the officer observed.
Then, “there was blood on the steps and on the foundation wall” of the residence, according to the warrant.
Police knocked on the door and eventually interviewed Llanos, who said he had just arrived at the house.
Llanos had blood on his shorts and one of his sneakers. The cop asked him about it. Llanos said it was blood from a fresh tattoo. He squeezed the tattoo for the officer, “and it bled a little,” according to the warrant.
There were five people in the residence — Llanos, the victim’s female friend, two other women and a second man. They gave conflicting accounts to police, or declined to say anything — but eventually acknowledged the victim had been there earlier in the evening before wandering off on his own toward Howard Avenue.
Police continued to collect forensic evidence, including a bloody hand print found on a car. They looked in a garbage can outside the residence and found the victim’s shorts and part of his ripped shirt, along with other items.
Police continued to interview and re-interview people thought to have information on the beating.
According to one witness account in the warrant, the following transpired in the residence:
The victim was drunk, began airing a series of personal issues, then picked up a glass sugar jar and smashed it on the kitchen floor. As he grew more agitated, someone in the house contacted Llanos for assistance.
Llanos arrived, lost his temper and began beating the man, ignoring pleas from others in the residence to stop. Llanos eventually dragged the man out to his car, continuing to punch the man.
Llanos told police he didn’t touch the man, and wasn’t at the residence at the same time as the victim.
Later, police stopped by Llanos’ parents residence in Bridgeport to ask questions. Llanos’ father called family attorney John Gulash.
A message seeking comment was left Wednesday with Gulash’s office.
Llanos did not provide a statement to police, according to the warrant, but agreed to submit a DNA sample. Police are awaiting the results of forensic tests.
A judge signed a warrant for his arrest Dec. 22.
After being released from the hospital, the victim, who still lives in Ansonia, told police he has no memory of what happened that night.
