
GOOGLE MAPS
A Google image showing 232 On Main Street in Ansonia.
ANSONIA — Detectives are trying to piece together Saturday morning chaos that sent two men to the hospital with gunshot wounds.
A 40-year-old man was shot in the chest outside 232 On Main Street, a bar-restaurant.
A 27-year-old man was shot in the shoulder while inside his apartment on Lester Street.
Both shootings were less than a mile apart and happened around 3 a.m.
The 40-year-old Main Street victim was listed in critical condition at Yale-New Haven Hospital, according to Ansonia police.
Police have not been able to talk to the victim because of the extent of his injuries.
The 27-year-old Lester Street victim may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. The multi-family house where he lives was hit several times as someone stood outside and fired more than a dozen shots toward the structure.
The victims’ names are not being released.
Police can’t say for certain the two incidents are connected at this early point in the investigation — but they wouldn’t be surprised if they were.
“Based on the proximity and the fact they are happening at the same time, we can’t positively link them together yet, but we have a strong suspicion that there may be some link between the shootings,” Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch said Monday. “The detectives are trying to dig through the information to see if there is any connection between the two.”
Lynch also said police are withholding some details to ensure the integrity of information offered by any witnesses.
People with information on the shootings should call Ansonia police at 203 735 1885.
Police also have an app/website through which people can submit information: https://www.tip411.com/people/sign_in
Police first received a call about a dispute and possibly shots fired in the area of 232 Main St., home to 232 On Main Street, a bar-restaurant.
As police responded, a 911 call came in reporting the sound of shots fired on High Street, which is near Lester Street.
Then a woman called from Lester Street saying her son had been shot — along with two other 911 calls about shots fired on Lester.
Meanwhile, there was no shooting victim on Main Street when police arrived.
Derby police contacted Ansonia police a short time later saying a man was dropped off at Griffin Hospital covered in blood. The man had been either shot or stabbed, and the vehicle that dropped him off did not stick around, according to emergency radio dispatches.
The man dropped off at Griffin was the victim from the Main Street shooting, police said.
Police said he worked at 232 On Main Street, the bar-restaurant.
“It occurred right in front of the bar. The shooter and the victim were both inside 232 before the shooting occured. 232 was closed,” Lynch said. “They were cleaning up for the night. There was some interaction between a person associated with the bar and the shooter. They ended up outside of the bar and that’s when the victim was shot.”
Police served a search warrant at 232 On Main Street Saturday to locate evidence, including any video that might shed light on what happened.
What triggered the shooting wasn’t clear as detectives continued to work the case Monday.
On Lester Street, neighbors reported hearing a dispute on the street of some kind — and then a hail of gunfire toward a multi-family house.
It’s unclear who the shooter was trying to target. The Lester Street victim told police he had no connection to the commotion on either Lester Street or Main Street.
“He (the Lester Street victim) said ‘I’m in my house and all the sudden a bullet comes through the wall and hits me’,” Lynch said.
A second-floor tenant said she woke up and found plaster in her hair and on her forehead, the result of a bullet piercing her wall.
“We are lucky that was not worse,” Lynch said.
Police said semi-automatic handguns were used in each shooting.
The City of Ansonia posted on social media Saturday saying the government would be working to close 232 On Main Street. However, it was unclear what legal grounds would be used.
Cities can sometimes go after problematic bars that are deemed to be a chronic nuisance — but that doesn’t seem to the case with 232 On Main Street.
Ansonia police said they have not received many complaints about the place. A spokesperson for the state liquor control division said no complaints have been lodged.
An email to the bar’s owner was not returned Monday. Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini referred an inquiry from The Valley Indy to police.
