#Norwalk CT–Hakeem Atkinson, age 22, of 68 Bradley St., Bridgeport, was charged with Murder in the unrelated slaying Joseph “Jabs” Bateman, who was fatally shot behind the Avalon Gates housing complex on
Belden Avenue in Norwalk on February 3, 2012. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Atkinson was 16 years old when Bateman was shot to death in a crime related to street gang activity in Norwalk.
The arrest is the result of an intensive investigation by the Norwalk Police Department in conjunction with the Cold Case Unit in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney and the Office of the State’s Attorney for
the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk.

Bateman’s death was featured in the fourth edition of the cold case playing cards produced in conjunction with the Department of Correction and sold to inmates in the Connecticut corrections system. Information on Bateman’s death was described on the nine of diamonds card. Atkinson surrendered to Norwalk police this morning. He is being held on $1 million bond and will be arraigned today at Norwalk Superior Court, G.A. No. 20. The charge is merely an accusation and he is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

“I thank all who worked so diligently on this investigation. While we may consider a case to be ‘cold,’ it is never closed as we continue to work as hard as we can to bring some sense of closure to families who have lost loved ones,” said Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik.  State’s Attorney Richard J. Colangelo, Jr., commended Norwalk police detectives and the Cold Case Unit for their work on the investigation. The case will be prosecuted by the Office of the State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk and the Cold Case Unit.

(Norwalk Police Press Release)