A trail of blood, presumably from a gunshot victim, could be seen on the sidewalk outside this market at the intersection of Fourth Street and North Main Street.
ANSONIA — Updated story available here.
(Original story follows)
Police are investigating a shooting that happened on the North End Wednesday afternoon.
It’s early in the investigation. Police were searching for additional evidence and a suspect as of 3 p.m.
Lt. Patrick Lynch said one person went to Griffin Hospital with a gunshot wound. The person, a male, was transferred to Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven. His condition was not known. Lynch noted there could be more victims, it just wasn’t known as of 3 p.m.
A trail of blood could be seen on the sidewalk outside the Ansonia Mini Market on North Main Street. The blood trail continued on the sidewalk down Fourth Street, toward Gattison Park, where there is a playground.
Police interviewed at the scene were trying to determine where the shooting originated.
They peeked into storm drains and scanned the sidewalks on Fourth Street, Star and behind a minimart looking for evidence.
Lynch said a police officer stationed in the area heard multiple shots fired, then saw several people running. Emergency radio dispatches put the time at roughly 1:50 p.m.
“We received a call within a few minutes from Griffin Hospital saying they had a gunshot victim,” Lynch said.
A canine unit from Seymour assisting in the investigation discovered a gun near an air conditioning unit behind a community center building, not far from the intersection of Fourth and Star Street.
“A canine unit has discovered some evidence, that we believe is linked to the shooting, and we hope to positively link that evidence,” Lynch said. “This is very early on in the investigation, and these investigations can rapidly change. All the information we give to you now may change over time.“
This is the third report of gunplay in the area of Fourth and Fifth streets in less than a week.
On Thursday, police investigated a report of shots fired near the intersection of Fourth and Star. No injuries were reported and no arrests were made. That crime happened at 1 p.m. Click here for the story.
On Friday at about 9:45 p.m., someone fired shots in the area of Fifth Street, with several bullets damaging an apartment building on Fourth Street. No injuries were reported.
“Again, there were no (injured) victims and no witnesses. We’re not really sure whether there was a dispute or, again, it’s just someone firing off rounds,” Lynch said in an interview with The Valley Indy prior to the latest shooting.
Lynch said police had no indication that the Thursday and Friday “shots fired” incidents were connected.
“Right now we don’t have any of that. We have no indication that these are targeted toward a specific person or group of people. They seem to be as random as random can be,” Lynch said, referencing last week’s incidents.
An officer and a dog from Seymour searched the area.
Cassetti Sees Cameras As A Solution
Police had already beefed up patrols on the North End prior to Wednesday’s shooting.
At Tuesday night’s meeting of the Ansonia Board of Aldermen, Mayor David Cassetti, in response to the recent gunplay, directed his staff to look into buying surveillance cameras that would be put in public places and monitored by staff at the police department.
Lynch said the mayor met with Acting Chief Wayne Williams to talk about establishing a “fusion” center at the Ansonia Police Department.
It’s a system of live cameras – highly visible to also act as a deterrent to crime – in public places. The video feed would stream to monitors at the police department.
Lynch said such systems are in place in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven and Waterbury.
“They have a very robust camera surveillance system in public areas,” Lynch said. “We are going to look into establishing something like that here – monitoring public areas where we know we have issues.”
City staffers such as corporation counsel John Marini and grant writer Sheila O’Malley will be researching the costs with police.
“The technology is such that you can get very good cameras that are not that expensive. It can beneficial in seeing what’s going on and identifying potential suspects,” Lynch said. “The mayor has made a commitment to look into that.”
Lynch said the surveillance system has been effective in Bridgeport.
“They’ve been able to witness a shooting and then track a suspect moving from area to area,” he said.
In Thursday and Friday’s “shots fired” investigation, and during Wednesday’s shooting investigation, officers spent hours going door to door trying to track down footage from cameras belonging to residents and local businesses.
Having reliable, working cameras in public places makes sense, Lynch said.
“It’s a tremendous tool and it’s something that should be done.”
During Tuesday’s Aldermen meeting, Mayor Cassetti said he was “gravely concerned” about crime, especially on the North End.
“I want to keep an electric eye on crime by adding surveillance cameras and even license plate tracking to help significantly increase the odds of catching criminals in the act,” Cassetti said.
Marini hopes to have information about potential costs at the Aldermen’s January meeting.
“Fusion Centers” or Real-Time Crime Centers, have become increasingly popular in big cities, according to the Atlas of Surveillance, a project from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the University of Nevada’s Reno Reynolds School of Journalism.
The larger police departments use live cameras, expensive “shot spotter” technology, along with license-plate readers. The law enforcement tech isn’t without controversy, due to privacy concerns and the large amounts of data collected, the group points out on its website.
Costs for the systems vary.
“The starting cost of these RTCCs can range dramatically, from just a few hundred thousand dollars to as much as $11 million, as in New York City. This funding can come from a number of sources, including city budgets, voter-approved bonds, state and federal grants, private institutions, and wealthy individual donors,” according to the Atlas of Surveillance website
This story will be updated.
A wider shot showing where a blood trail was discovered on the sidewalk.
