DoingItLocal

NEW HAVEN — A Bible-burning vandal overnight damaged the city’s Christmas tree on the Green today, but public works crews hoped to have it relit by late afternoon as usual.     Read full story…..

Thursday night Bridgeport celebrated the holidays with a tree lighting and visit from Santa. Over ten thousand lights were lit and hundreds showed up to enjoy the music celebrating Christmas, Chanukah a and Kwanza along with Mike Bellamy and Tony Reno from WICC who were guests of honor.  There was just so much fun to cover in one video it had to be made into two videos!  As promised here is the extended video:

In a story we reported on live to warn drivers that I-91 was closed due to an accident, the Connecticut Post reveals this was a local man who died in the crash. Austin Gomes, 29, was driving southbound on Interstate 91, north of exit 6, in the left center lane of four lanes when he lost control, police said.   Read full story….

 

Police received a report of three black males exiting a four door grey sedan trying to enter vehicles parked on Second Street.  The witness stated that the males were going car to car in a rapid pace pulling on the handles to see if they were locked. Officers located the suspect vehicle traveling on Villa Avenue near Brooklawn Ave. and initiated a motor vehicle stop.  They smelled a strong odor of suspected marijuana and conducted a search of the vehicle.  Located were phone chargers and cords, flashlights, screwdrivers and a scale.
Charges for the three were:

Jonathan DaSilva (DOB 9/15/92) of 400 Atlantic Street, Bridgeport, was charged with Burglary in the 3rd Degree 2 counts (53a-103), Conspiracy to Commit Burglary in the 3rd Degree 20 counts (53a-48/53a-103), Possession of Burglary Tools (53a-106), Larceny in the 6th Degree (53a-125b), Conspiracy to Commit Larceny in the 6th Degree 20 counts (53a-48/53a-125b), Criminal Attempt to Commit Larceny in the 6th Degree (53a-49/53a-125b), Possession of Marijuana Less Than 1/2 ounce (PA-11-71-1), Possession of Drug Paraphernalia with 1/2 ounce (11-71-3), after he was in the driver’s seat of a vehicle that was stopped which matched the description of a vehicle reported in the area for three black males trying to enter vehicles parked on Second Street in Fairfield.

Nelson Hines  (DOB 8/25/91) of 79 Olive Street, Bridgeport, was charged with Burglary in the 3rd Degree (53a-103), Conspiracy to Commit Burglary in the 3rd Degree 20 counts (53a-48/53a-103), Possession of Burglary Tools (53a-106), Larceny in the 6th Degree (53a-125b), Conspiracy to Commit Larceny in the 6th Degree 20 counts. (53a-48/53a-125b), after he was the front passenger in a vehicle.

Kenny Wright (DOB 11/6/90) of 107 Austin Street, Bridgeport, was charged with Burglary in the 3rd Degree 5 counts (53a-103), Conspiracy to Commit Burglary in the 3rd Degree 20 counts (53a-48/53a-103), Possession of Burglary Tools (53a-106), Larceny in the 6th Degree 5 counts (53a-125b), Conspiracy to Commit Larceny in the 6th Degree 20 counts (53a-48/53a-125b), after he was the rear passenger in a vehicle.

Connecticut State Police Officers were at the Toys R Us and Walmart in Milford today collecting toys for the Toys For Tots Program, they will be there until 4pm. They will also have a cruiser at Troop G Headquarters at 149 Prospect Street, Bridgeport all next week for drop off. The Toys are requested to be unwrapped so they know who the toy would be appropriate for….its also one less thing for you to do! The primary goal of Toys for Tots is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them in becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.

Thursday night Bridgeport celebrated the holidays with a tree lighting and visit from Santa.   Over ten thousand lights were lit and hundreds showed up to enjoy the music celebrating Christmas, Chanukah a and Kwanza along with Mike Bellamy and Tony Reno from WICC who were guests of honor.  The official Bridgeport website announced a “Holiday Tree Lighting” which is why I chided the mayor in my on camera interview.  There was so much fun a four minute video does not do it justice; I will posted a more extended video over the weekend with much more singing and celebrating!

Shortly after 10pm Thursday night shots rang out at YZ Manufacturing.com at 431 Post Road East.  This is the same plaza as Gold’s Delicatessen and Coehn’s Optical in the Compo Shopping Center.  It is uncertain if the shooting was a robbery gone wrong but the two victims were from YZ Manufacturing which is a  manufacturer of jewelry and also diamond cutters.  One person was confirmed dead at Norwalk Hospital and the other is in critical condition.  It is unknown how many shooters there were.  The Westport Major Crime Squad and State Police Crime Squad are now on the scene investigating.

A suspect remained at large Thursday afternoon on the campus of Virginia Tech after a police officer and at least one other person were shot dead, the university said.
During a traffic stop on campus, the suspect shot and killed a Virginia Tech police officer and then fled on foot through a nearby parking lot.A second person was later found dead in that parking lot, the university said. The university said the status of the shooter was unknown and the school remained on lockdown. Read full story….

I followed up with Chief of Police Gary MacNamara to get the official word on what took place at the home invasion at 1039 Reef Road last night. The chief says the assailants tied and beat one resident after robbing the home of various items. He confirmed that there was a previous robbery at that same home a couple of weeks ago but it went unreported to the police department. The assailants are still at large and the chief is warning residents of the neighborhood to lock doors and to report anything suspicious to the police department immediately.

9:52pm–Fairfield–Police are investigating a home invasion that occurred at 1039 Reef Road in Fairfield Wednesday night.  Two white males dressed in black entered the home wielding a knife, tied up the resident and beat him on the face.   One person was taken to a local hospital by ambulance.    According to neighbors and confirmed by reports from police an earlier robbery occurred one to two weeks earlier but was not reported.  The residents  of the home appear to be late teens early twenties, probably from the local universities said neighbors.   The back of the home is marsh area and at the time it was high tide, police said if they fled through the marsh the water would be over their heads.  F airfield’s canine Ruger was on scene and later Westport sent their canine to investigate.  As of 1:45am the subjects are still at large and police are searching the surrounding area.