While investigators won’t release much information about the fatal shooting of 15-year-old Shelton High School student Kristjan Ndoj, the state honored six officers who helped investigate the unsolved crime.
The officers comprise the “Hunting Related Shooting Incident Team” of the state’s Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police.
“Their investigation revealed new evidence concerning the weapon involved and location of the shooter,” according to a press release from the Department of Energy and Environmental Conservation.
The team was scheduled to be honored — along with a long list of other EnCon officers — during an annual awards ceremony scheduled for Wednesday (April 30) night at Dinosaur State Park in Rocky Hill.
Background
The state’s attorney’s office called the team to Shelton after Kristjan was shot in a driveway at 1 Agawam Trail in the Pine Rock Park section of the city the night of March 15.
He didn’t live there, but was visiting friends.
Kristjan died at Bridgeport Hospital March 20.
The six-person EnCon team determined the origin of the shots that killed Ndoj were fired from a wooded area some 150 feet away.
They were part of an investigative team that included, at least in the first few days, Shelton police, state police, Derby, and Ansonia.
State police eventually became the lead agency in the case, at the request of Shelton Police Chief Joel Hurliman.
Too Early?
Wednesday’s awards ceremony raised eyebrows among some members of law enforcement.
It is unusual to give awards in connection to a six-week old open homicide investigation, a law enforcement source said.
Michael Boynton, a lawyer who has served as the Ndoj family spokesman, said he could not comment on the award ceremony because he was not aware of it.
However, he said the Ndoj family is “understandably frustrated” because the identity of their son’s killer remains a mystery.
Frustrated Shelton residents often post questions about the status of the homicide investigation on the Valley Indy’s Facebook wall.
Readers reacted with anger after this article was posted to Facebook Thursday night.
The Valley Indy asked a spokesman for DEEP whether it was hypocritical or, perhaps, insensitive, to invite the media to cover an award connected to a case the public can’t get much information about.
“We are of course aware that that investigation remains open and the case is unsolved and we understand just how difficult this uncertainty is for the family of the victim and the community,” DEEP spokesman Dennis Schain said in an e‑mail.
“Our intent at the awards ceremony, however, is simply to recognize the good works of our officers in lending their time and expertise to assist with the investigation,” he said.
The Family
The Ndoj family talks fairly regularly with police, both at the state and local levels, about the case, Boynton said.
“To be fair to the police, the family understands they have a very difficult case to investigate,” he said. “They certainly had a mountain of leads to go through, and it takes time and manpower to go through it.”
Boynton said the case seemed relatively straightforward in the first few days after the crime, when police investigated a threat apparently made against Kristjan shortly before he was short.
The threat angle was widely reported by the media. The information did not pan out.
Another early angle was reported by the Valley Indy on March 28 — that police were focusing on a man who lived in the area, and fired a shotgun for reasons unknown in the boy’s direction from a distance.
Boynton said police pursued many leads in the days after the shooting, fielding tips from social media and from students at Shelton High School — but the who and the why in Kristjan’s killing remains unknown.
“They were taking in all these leads, they try to pursue them, but they haven’t resulted in anything,” Boynton said. “The police, despite their best efforts, don’t have someone they can turn over to the state’s attorney’s office to prosecute. That is frustrating for the family.”
Not A Cold Case
Lt. J. Paul Vance, a spokesman for state police, said some progress in the case has been made but police are not releasing any information to the public.
The state police investigators want to protect “the integrity of the investigation,” Vance said.
“We are working it. It’s not sitting on a back burner, or on a shelf, or anywhere else,” he said. “We have detectives that are actively working the case.”
Vance could not say whether police have suspects or a theory as to what led to the shooting.
“It is not a cold case. It is an active case. From my perspective, from my experience, that means they are making some progress,” Vance said.
He declined to comment on the award presented to the DEEP officers Wednesday.
The EnCon police team honored Wednesday night specializes in figuring out what happened after hunting-related shootings.
However, it should be noted Kristjan’s killing was not related to hunting, such as an accidental shot fired from a person hunting deer. The EnCon team was brought in because of their expertise in dealing with shootings in wooded areas.
The following information is from a DEEP press release:
2014 Conservation Officer Awards
Unit Citation Award
Hunting Related Shooting Incident (HRSI) Team
On March 17, 2014 the Hunting Related Shooting Incident (HRSI) team was requested by the States Attorney’s office from Derby to assist in a shooting investigation in Shelton.
The incident involved the shooting of a 15-year old male student from Shelton High School in a residential neighborhood.
Sergeants Keith Schneider, James Kane, Jeffrey Samorajczyk and Officers Paul Hilli, Stephen Stanko, and Keith Williams worked for two days at the crime scene gathering evidence and reconstructing the incident.
Their investigation revealed new evidence concerning the weapon involved and location of the shooter.
The unit worked collaboratively with the Shelton Police Department and the State Police Major Crime Squad in an effort to determine a suspect in this homicide investigation.
