Updated: 2:55 a.m.

Gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Toad’s Place, at 300 York St., at roughly 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, but conflicting reports have emerged.

Following the conclusion of a DEJ Loaf concert at Toad’s Place slightly after 1 a.m., students reported hearing loud noises in the area near York Street, Tower Parkway and Ashmun Street. Two students confirmed that following the noise, they then witnessed roughly half a dozen men flee the scene in a grey sedan, although it is unclear why they were fleeing the scene.

At 1:30 a.m. in an email to the Yale Community, YPD Chief Ronnell Higgins reported that New Haven Police reported gunshots in the area of Toad’s Place. At 2:33 a.m., Higgins reported in an email to the Yale Community that the area was clear and no injuries were reported.

A Yale Police Department officer, who wished to remain anonymous, said when the concert at Toad’s Place let out at around 1 a.m., YPD and New Haven Police Department officers in the area called in a report of gunshots heard.

The officer said at 2 a.m. that the NHPD and YPD were trying to locate where the shots were fired, noting that it “seemed as though shots were fired in the area of York and Tower Parkway.” The NHPD is currently investigating the report while the YPD is providing assistance.

NHPD and YPD officers were seen in the vicinity of Swing Space, York Street and Tower Parkway. Officers were also seen searching the sidewalk in front of Swing Space and the Yale Power Plant with flashlights.

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An NHPD officer who wished to remain anonymous said that gun shots were heard in the vicinity of Morse and Swing Space. He said officers who had been working at Toad’s Place heard the gunshots and went to the area to investigate.

Nickolas Brooks ’17, who called the 911 dispatcher around 1:15 a.m., said he heard four to five gunshots from his location in Swing Space on Tower Parkway. He then said from the vantage place of a different room within Swing, he then witnessed the men enter a “getaway car,” although he could not confirm if they were the shooters.

“They could have been people running away from the gunshots or people who had done the shooting,” Brooks said.

He added the noise of the shots sounded less like an automatic gun, and were likely shots from a pistol or a smaller weapon.

A student, who lives in off-campus housing on Tower Parkway near Payne Whitney Gym and spoke on the condition of anonymity due to safety concerns, said she heard two shots and after a pause, five more shots, around 1:04 a.m.

She corroborated Brooks’ account, and added that she saw six males running across the Swing Space lawn after hearing shots. The men attempted to enter Swing Space through a door leading to the basement, and, after failing to enter, climbed into a waiting silver sedan and drove away.

However, she said the lag between the reporting of the gunshots just after 1 a.m. to the first alert from Higgins at 1:30 is concerning.

“This needs to be a huge concern,” she said.

Higgins said in his second email that the incident remains under investigation by YPD and NHPD.

LARRY MILSTEIN
NICOLE NG
ERICA PANDEY