FILE PHOTO
A photo of Jajuan Benavides was part of a memorial set up on Anson Street in 2017.
DERBY — Police said Monday they have made one arrest with a second arrest on the way in connection to the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides on Anson Street in 2017.
Police have an arrest warrant waiting for Jacob Freeman, 24, of Ansonia. He will be charged with murder.
Freeman is currently in jail for allegedly violating his federal probation. He had been previously convicted of being part of a drug-dealing gang operating on High Street in Ansonia. He will be charged with murder at an upcoming court hearing.
Rhameir Bush, 25, of Bridgeport, was taken into custody in Naugatuck on Monday and charged with two criminal counts: criminal liability for acts of another/murder, and conspiracy to commit murder.
They are charged in connection to the murder of Benavides on the street on Aug. 11, 2017. Freeman is believed to have pulled the trigger, according to Derby Police Lt. Justin Stanko. Bush acted as lookout and getaway driver, Stanko said.
The shooting happened at 2 a.m. on a Friday.
Earlier, there had been a dispute on Anson Street between Benavides and the men. Police said Freeman and Bush returned in a vehicle later as Benavides sat on a stoop on Anson Street with a group of people.
Then Freeman allegedly got out of the vehicle around the corner from where Benavides was sitting and approached with a gun.
Benavides saw Freeman and ran down Anson Street, from Sixth Street to Fourth Street, with Freeman firing at him, police said. Benavides was also armed, but his weapon malfunctioned.
Benavides was shot multiple times, including shots lodged at close range.
“Judging by the amount of times he was shot and the proximity of the shots, it was an execution,” Stanko said.
Freeman and Bush were suspects early in the investigation. Stanko said there were witnesses on the street who knew Benavides and watched him hit the ground. Yet no one cooperated with police, Stanko said.
The arrest warrants weren’t available Monday. Video surveillance, cellular data and physical evidence from the scene are expected to play an important role in the case.
Stanko credited the tenacity of Derby Detective Sgt. John Netto and Detective Ed Sullivan for working the case for three straight years.
“Every week they were doing something related to this investigation, making calls waiting for things to come back from the lab. It wasn’t easy because they had hit a wall with people, but they kept at it and I can’t credit them enough. They continually worked this case to bring Mr. Benavides’ killers to justice,” Stanko said.
Benavides grew up on Hawkins Street and went to Derby schools, a relative told The Valley Indy in 2017.
A former Derby educator described him as charismatic. His son was just 3‑years-old when he was murdered, and a second child was on the way.
According to court documents from a previous federal arrest, Freeman, the suspected shooter, has ties to an organized drug-dealing group previously responsible for a rash of shootings in the lower Naugatuck Valley.
The same groups are connected to recent gunfire and a drive-by shooting in Derby, Stanko said.
“I don’t want to get into specific motives right now, but these are just ongoing street beefs that just build up. They escalate to the point of people shooting at each other,” Stanko said.
Stanko credited the assistance of other agencies in the investigation, including detectives in Ansonia and Shelton, the state police major crime squad, and the state’s attorney’s office within the Milford Judicial District.
