A man was shot and killed Thursday afternoon in a Fair Haven park filled with children, police said.

Officers found Marcelino Rivera, age 19, suffering from a gunshot wound in Quinnipiac Park around 3:30 p.m. He was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he died.

Police detained several individuals who they believe had been in some sort of physical fight at the shooting site, James and River streets, about a mile east of the New Haven Green.

Police said they believe Rivera may have been in one of two groups involved in the fight. Police did not know the motive of the fight, but said they are “vigorously pursuing several leads.”

The shooting is the sixth murder of the year. City leaders were concerned that five murders in January represented a crime surge — there were only 18 murders all last year. Although Thursday’s shooting was the first murder since January, shootings seem to have become more frequent in the past week than earlier in the year.

— YDN Staff