ANSONIA – Three teens are scheduled to appear in court this month on charges stemming from a 2022 murder.
Errol Salkey, 19, Monteral Crews, 18, and Vince Bravo, 17 all stand accused of murder for a shooting on Hubbell Avenue that left Johnny Class, 20, dead.
On April 5, 2022, just before 1 p.m., Crews arranged to buy an ounce of marijuana from one of Class’s friends, according to arrest warrants. The friend drove to a spot about a block from Crews’ house, with Class in the passenger seat and another friend in the back. Crews came out to meet them and talked to the driver through Class’s window.
Then, the warrant states, two other people came around to the driver’s side. The third passenger saw them and tapped the driver’s arm to warn them that they might get robbed.
At this point, the friend says that Crews pulled out a gun while the other assailants tried to open the locked driver’s door.
Then Crews fired a single shot into the vehicle, striking Class in the side of the head.
The driver said one more shot was fired at the car as he drove away. The driver called 911 and Class was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police identified the suspects based on cell phone records, witness testimony, and surveillance video. A search of Crews’ phone revealed that he had called an Uber from the crime scene just minutes after the shooting. Location data placed the three teens together at Bravo’s residence soon after.
Three teens were captured on neighborhood cameras before and after the shooting. Officer Michael Barry, who works as a School Resource Officer at the teens’ school and who responded to the shooting, identified the teens as the suspects based on their clothing. The driver also picked out Crews from a photo lineup.
The arrests of the three suspects came months apart. Crews was arrested a month later in North Carolina. Salkey was arrested in Ansonia a year after the murder. Bravo was arrested last August in Stratford, according to the CT Post. All three are being tried as adults for felony murder and conspiracy to commit robbery.
Bravo was due back in court on Feb. 1, but his grandmother was absent and, as he is still a minor, court could not proceed. His appearance was moved to Mar. 15.
Crews is due back on Feb. 13, and Salkey is due on Feb. 22. The three teens are all currently being held in custody.
Class, who lived in Stratford, was father to an eight-month-old girl at the time of his death, according to News 12 Connecticut.
“It broke my heart because my son would never have any problems with anybody,” Class’s mother told the station.
“Regardless of the outcome of my son’s murder, this does not change the anger I feel,” Class’s father wrote on Facebook after Crews’ arrest. “My son was supposed to carry on our name we share.”
