Hartford Police have identified a man who was killed in a shooting as city resident Kennedy Burgess, 28. He was shot during the second of two incidents in the city Monday night. Mayor Luke Bronin said Tuesday that he thinks the coronavirus crisis is playing a role in the uptick in violence in Hartford.
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The first incident occurred after 10 p.m. at the intersection of Greenwich Street and Tower Avenue. Three men were wounded by gunfire -- all three were hospitalized and were in stable condition.
Roughly three hours later, another shooting occurred in a warehouse at Barlow Way, where there was a large gathering, according to Lt. Paul Cicero. This one was fatal.
“The weapon in that particular incident was a handgun, and numerous casings and pieces of evidence were recovered from the scene,” said Cicero. “The Hartford Police Major Crimes Division as well as the Crime Scene Division responded to both of those scenes, and the investigation is still very early and ongoing.”
Bronin said the community will see a significantly larger police presence as a result of the rise in shootings.
“Like many cities around the country over the past few months, we have seen a distressing increase in gun violence and in shootings,” he said. “Thank God many of them -- most of them -- have not been fatal. Thank God more people didn’t lose their lives in these shootings, but we have seen an increase in shootings.”
The mayor pointed to the continuing closure of the courts, which he said leads to a lack of supervision from probation and parole officers. He also said the economic, emotional and social disruption brought on by the pandemic is another factor in the rise in gun violence.
Brenda Leon is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
