A 14-year-old boy from Hamden died Tuesday afternoon after being brought to St. Mary’s Hospital on Monday with a gunshot wound to the head, according to school officials.
Justin Harmon, director of marketing and communications for New Haven Public Schools, said the teen attended High School in the Community (HSC) and that the parents notified the district that he had died on Tuesday afternoon. HSC will be offering counseling to students who need it. Students and faculty are planning a memorial service.
Waterbury police were notified around 4 a.m. Monday, while the boy was receiving “medical treatment of a sustained gunshot wound to the back of his head,” according to a statement from the Waterbury Police Department (WPD).
As of Monday night, Waterbury police said the teen was in “critical and life-threatening” condition and was transported to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center in Hartford.
The WPD is confident that the incident occurred outside city limits, and is working with other precincts to investigate the situation.
UPDATE:
At a press conference on Oct. 29, Gov. Ned Lamont connected the shooting to an increase in juvenile crime that the Waterbury area and the state at large has seen since 2018 and through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lamont, Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary and Connecticut’s public safety commissioner, James Rovella all advocated for tougher stances on juvenile crime control.
The 14-year-old boy has since been named. His mother and grandmother stood at the podium with Lamont during the press conference, but did not speak themselves.
Lamont discussed the family’s wishes that the boy received better social support from the state, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the boy “started going a little stir-crazy.”