GOOGLE MAPS
A Google Map showing the intersection of E. Ninth Street and Seymour Avenue in Derby.
DERBY — Police are investigating a shootout that happened on E. Ninth Street Tuesday night.
No injuries were reported. Three vehicles parked on the street were hit by bullets.
The gunfire, which happened around 10 p.m., comes after several rounds were fired in the area of Cottage and Hawkins street Sunday night, and two weeks after a Derby teenager was shot at in a drive-by at 1 a.m. in the area of Chatfield Street and the new athletic complex. The victim of the Sept. 1 shooting received minor wounds and was out of the hospital in less than a day.
Police are investigating each incident, including to see if they’re connected.
Anyone with information should call the police at 203 – 735-7811. Anonymous tips are accepted, and the calls remain confidential.
A resident called police Tuesday night reporting that he or she heard gunfire in the area of E. Ninth Street and Seymour Avenue. The caller reported hearing a vehicle speed away from the area.
Police received a second call a short time later from a Seymour Avenue resident who also reported hearing shots fired. A third caller from Olivia Street reported hearing what sounded like gunshots in the area.
Some of the callers told police the vehicle fleeing the scene got onto Route 8 south. Other witnesses reported seeing a man running from the scene.
Police canvassed the area, interviewed people, and recovered evidence which showed there had been an “exchange of gunfire” between at least two parties.
On Sunday (Sept. 13) at about 8:15 p.m., police received a report of shots fired near Hawkins and Cottage streets, which is very close to E. Ninth Street. No injuries were reported.
Police believe that incident involved one person firing a weapon. A bullet hit one house, police said.
Police are investigating whether the recent incidents in west Derby are connected.
The Larger Pattern
But, looking at the bigger picture, Lt. Justin Stanko said that there have been a series of shootings in Ansonia and Derby that seem to be the work of the same groups of people.
A similar violent pattern happened in Derby and Ansonia about a decade ago, That violence was thought to have centered around the Valley drug trade.
This time it seems an escalating series of “personal beefs” are motivating the gun play.
“Going back the last two or three years there have been multiple shootings in Ansonia and Derby that all have tangential relationships to the same players in one way or another,” Stanko said. “This is less drug related and more like escalating beefs, if you will. The incidents seem to be retaliatory in nature going back and forth,” Stanko said.
Police said some of the back-and-forth violence is connected to the 2017 killing of a 21-year-old man on Anson Street in Derby.
That murder happened after as series of crimes that happened in Derby during the first 12 days of August 2017.
