Warrant: Cameras Captured Midday Murder

A man dressed all in black walked west on Wolcott Street, pulled a gun out of his waistband, and fired shot after shot after shot — killing 42-year-old New Havener Peter Arroyo, whom police believe was not the shooter’s intended victim.

That fatal gunfire took place in broad daylight in Fair Haven on a Monday afternoon in May, in full view of a number of witnesses and — crucially, for the police investigation to follow — in full view of surveillance cameras.

That scene is described in harrowing detail in a 14-page arrest warrant affidavit written on July 9 by New Haven Police Det. Allyn Wright.

The Independent obtained a copy of the warrant following a press conference held on the third floor of police headquarters Thursday afternoon, during which police brass and the mayor joined members of Arroyo’s family to announce the arrest of his alleged killer.

Police Chief Karl Jacobson and Lt. Pedro Colon said that the suspect, a 29-year-old Bridgeport man, had been extradited from Georgia to New Haven on Tuesday.

State court records show he has been charged with murder, carrying a pistol without a permit, criminal possession of a firearm, and second-degree assault. He hasn’t yet entered pleas to any of those charges, and is currently being held on a $2.5 million bond.

Mayor Justin Elicker said during Thursday’s press conference that Arroyo had five children and five grandchildren.

“My dad was a family man,” said one of Arroyo’s daughters, Jay’na Estrada. ​“He lived for his kids.”

Wright’s July 9 affidavit provides a detailed account of what police believe happened on May 20 before, during, and after Arroyo was shot to death. It describes evidence police believe points to the arrested 29-year-old man as the shooter.

While detectives spoke with a handful of witnesses over the course of the three-month investigation, what emerges again and again across Wright’s write-up is just how important video surveillance footage was to helping police understand what happened.

Videos referenced in Wright’s affidavit came from surveillance cameras at corner stores, a gas station, even aboard a CTTransit bus.

Perhaps most important were privately owned Ring cameras affixed to a house near where the shooting took place. Those cameras provided a complete view of the shooting itself — and pointed cops towards the man they wound up apprehending months later who had fled all the way down South.

Wright wrote in the arrest warrant affidavit that, on May 20 at around 12:38 p.m., police responded to the area of Wolcott and Ferry streets in Fair Haven after multiple people called 911 to report hearing numerous gunshots. ShotSpotter, the city’s gunfire detection system, also indicated that 12 rounds had been fired in the area.

Upon arrival, officers found Arroyo. He was lying on Wolcott Street, partially in the roadway, partially on the grass, with an apparent gunshot wound to the head.

He was taken by ambulance to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

City detectives subsequently collected seven 9mm fired cartridge casings and two bullet jacket fragments at the scene.

Footage from the privately owned Ring cameras on a nearby home showed that, at around 12:37 p.m., a man dressed all in black — including a black hooded sweatshirt, a black baseball hat, black jeans, and black sneakers — walked west on Wolcott from Ferry. Police later identified that man, nicknamed ​“Magic,” as the one they would arrest and charge with murder.

The man in black approached a black Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck on Wolcott.

Arroyo exited the rear passenger side of that truck — and the man in black reached into his waistband with his left hand and pulled out a gun.

He then began to fire towards Arroyo and the truck. Two women who had been walking nearby hit the ground for cover. Another man exited the truck’s front driver’s side, pulled out a gun, and started shooting in response.

The man in black then turned and ran east on Wolcott. The man in the truck got back in his car and started driving in the same direction.

With the help of the state’s parole office, police found out that the 29-year-old man whom they’d ultimately arrest had been in that area of Fair Haven at the time of the shooting — as recorded by his GPS ankle monitor.

The man would later cut that GPS ankle monitor off and apparently toss it out the window of a moving bus as he headed downtown. Another camera, aboard the bus, would record that alleged GPS toss.

Police tracked down the man in Georgia with the help of the U.S. Marshals Service and an emergency ping notification for the suspect’s phone.

A day after the shooting, law enforcement received a ​“ping” for that phone near a bus terminal in Washington, D.C.

Another day later, they received another ​“ping” by a bus terminal in Atlanta.

The warrant ends with Wright explaining why police believe the suspect should be charged with murder, among other offenses.

The writeup does not include details about how the suspect was found and apprehended in Georgia.

The warrant also does not provide a clear explanation as to why the 29-year-old arrestee allegedly shot and killed Arroyo. Colon made clear during Thursday’s press conference that police do not believe Arroyo was the intended target. Wright’s warrant also quotes one anonymous witness as saying that ​“Magic,” the alleged shooter, was a crack cocaine dealer with connections to prostitution.

During Thursday’s press conference, Colon singled out the surveillance camera footage ​“that captured the entire incident” as particularly helpful for police investigators.

“It was on video, which was extremely helpful,” Jacobson agreed. He also praised community members for coming forward to talk with the police about whatever they knew.