State and local officials are promising to work together to address violence after five people were shot in Bridgeport over the weekend.
The gun violence played out over about six hours, starting Saturday night.
Bridgeport Police Captain Kevin Gilleran said three of the shootings were in the PT Barnum Apartments public housing complex.
“All of those are non-fatal, non-life threatening injuries for anybody else that was involved. The three in PT, even though they were apart by hours, they were connected,” Gilleran said at a press conference on Tuesday morning.
Police would not say how the housing project shootings were connected.
The gun violence started at the apartment complex when a man was shot in the leg and the hand shortly after 8 p.m. Saturday. Several hours later, another man was shot in the lower back. Several hours after that, a man was shot in the leg. All of the wounded people at PT Barnum were 21 or 22 years old.
In unrelated attacks stretching into the early hours of Sunday, a 28-year-old woman was critically injured when she was shot in the face and the neck while driving in a car. And a man was shot in the groin while walking near Read School. All of the victims are expected to survive.
Bridgeport Police Chief Roderick Porter said detectives have positive leads.
“We have a lot of resources to lock people up,” Porter said. “To those who want to continue to engage in criminal and violent activity, we will work with our state, our state's attorney, our federal partners to lock the right individuals up.”
Plans are being made to involve state police in joint traffic enforcement in specific areas, according to Porter.
Despite the outbreak of violence this weekend, city officials say the number of shootings are down, compared to the same time last year.
“This is a rarity where you see this type of multiple shootings, incidents in a short period of time,” Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim said. “But it is the summertime; it is getting hot. And in any city in America you know, that it’s likely an opportunity for incidents to be more prevalent.”
Ganim said the city is also prepared to help with gun violence prevention.
“As we start the summer, not only are we going to be diligent with outreach and public safety and enforcement, we’ll also be announcing the enhancement of programs that are aimed at young people that may be looking for opportunities to channel energy in a positive way,” he said.
“After school programs, recreational programs, night basketball," Ganim said, "We'll build on those even more throughout the summer.”
