Two young people were arrested, one just 17, and a third was being sought in the quadruple Halloween shooting that left an 18-year-old dead in New Haven, city officials said Tuesday.
Three other people were wounded during the gunfight that erupted between two quarreling groups at 2:34 a.m. on Nov. 1 amid 5,000-7,000 Halloween revelers.
Alexa Acevedo, 18, was hit by a stray bullet while “just walking innocently down the street,” New Haven Police Assistant Chief David Zannelli said at a press conference Tuesday afternoon. She died at Yale-New Haven Hospital a short time later “despite hospital staff’s best efforts.”
Police charged 17-year-old Dalon Jett with murder after matching his gun to Acevedo’s shooting. He was also charged with first-degree attempted criminal assault, criminal possession of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit. Jett was already on probation for other firearms charges, and his GPS monitoring device had just been removed the day before the homicide, Zannelli said. He will be tried as an adult.
Also wounded were Alissa Hamberg, 18, of Northfield, N.H., and 21-year-old Elijah Marrow of Derby, Conn. Marrow was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital in stable condition, and Hamberg, though initially critical, was also stable, Zannelli said.
The fourth person wounded, 19-year-old East Hartford resident Charles Woodall, fired the first shot, according to authorities. Hartford police arrested him on a firearms charge Dec. 22 and set bond at $500,000, then matched his gun to the deadly New Haven incident.
New Haven police charged Woodall with first-degree assault, carrying a pistol without a permit, unlawful discharge of a firearm and first-degree reckless endangerment, with bond set at $750,000.
Acevedo and Hamberg “were not in the company of Woodall when he suddenly began shooting at a group of individuals” a few blocks away and hit Marrow, who was also not part of the group, police said. Jett and the third shooter, whose name police held pending arrest, returned fire, striking Woodall, Acevedo and Hamberg.
Acevedo lived in Norwich and was studying early childhood education at Connecticut State Community College Three Rivers. She “was a wonderful young woman; an 18-year-old girl who had her entire life in front of her was taken away,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker told reporters.
“It’s also disturbing that one of the shooters was a 17-year-old and was returning fire from an 18-year-old,” Elicker added. “That’s a consistent challenge that many of our communities are struggling with, and we’re doing our best to confront it.”
Acevedo’s mother and sister spoke at the press conference on behalf of their bereft family.
“This has left a big hole in my heart,” her sister Elena Acevedo said, struggling to speak amid wracking sobs. “It’s sad how many people lose their life due to gun violence and how people are not taking it seriously enough that kids, teens, adults, are dying due to shootings.”
Her death held a tragic irony, Elena said.
“My sister always loved talking about what was right and what was wrong in the world, and her biggest thing was gun violence,” she said of her big sister. “So for my sister to die to a bullet is the saddest thing ever.”
