Two New Haven Police Department officers and one civilian were the victims of a triple shooting on Saturday two blocks from Stop & Shop, a popular location among Yale students.
John Douglas Monroe, a 51-year-old Elm City resident, allegedly shot a woman, whom NHPD believe to be his wife, four times in the hand, arm, back and chest at her home at 638 Elm Street — two blocks away from Stop & Shop on Whalley Avenue. When NHPD officers Scott Shumway and Eric Pessino entered the house shortly after, Monroe allegedly shot both in the arm. The officers have since been released from the hospital, but the first victim remains in critical condition.
A nearly five-hour-long standoff between Monroe and law enforcement followed the initial shooting, with the shooter holed up in his Elm Street home, while dozens of police, firefighters and SWAT team members encircled the premises. Law enforcement used negotiators to try to reason with Monroe and, at one point, threw a flashbang grenade into the home in the hope of disorienting him. But the standoff came to an end only after law enforcement agents entered the home, found Monroe hiding in the basement and shot him, incapacitating him.
Shortly after officers shot Monroe Saturday afternoon, NHPD Press Liaison David Hartman said at a media briefing that Monroe was pointing a “long gun,” either a rifle or a shotgun, at law enforcement before he was shot. He added that Monroe was in serious but stable condition.
The NHPD cordoned off eight blocks surrounding the scene for most of Saturday afternoon. A crowd of about 50 onlookers — some of them Stop & Shop customers, others residents of the neighborhood — watched from behind police tape near the intersection of Orchard and Elm streets as heavily armed officers and SWAT personnel walked to and from the scene.
Arcenia Lopez, who spoke with the News just after 2:30 p.m. Saturday, said she had been watching the scene since about 11:00 a.m. Lopez said officers and neighbors told her that Monroe used to serve in the military.
Several students said they were surprised the triple shooting happened so close to Stop & Shop. Neil Goodman ’20, said he was on campus for much of last summer and went to the grocery store often.
“It’s always scary to see that a shooting happened, especially during the day,” Goodman told the News on Monday.
But he added that he trusts the Yale Police Department to protect areas closer to campus. Vivian Dang ’19 said she was surprised by how close the incident was to campus, but said she, too, trusts YPD to keep campus safe.
Rachel Williams ’20 said she stayed in an apartment about two blocks from the site of the shooting this past summer.
“I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t scare me,” she said of the shooting.
Bohan Lou ’20 said he was surprised by the frequency at which shootings are occurring near campus, but he does not feel threatened. Lou noted that two incidents of gun violence occurred earlier this month outside Viva Zapata on Park Street.
The bar and restaurant is frequented by Yale faculty and students, and many students live in nearby buildings. In the first of the two incidents, a man was hit in the forehead with a bullet fragment.
Jon Greenberg | jonathan.greenberg@yale.edu
Brianna Wu | brianna.wu@yale.edu