Maia Nehme, Contributing Photographer

A 35-year-old man was killed and two West Haven officers were injured in an extended police shootout in New Haven Wednesday morning.

The man opened fire on the West Haven officers — accompanied by officers from New Haven, Waterbury, Meriden, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and Connecticut’s State Police — as they carried out a narcotics search warrant on a New Haven apartment at 719 Grand Ave. City Police Chief Karl Jacobson described the shootout, which began around 5:34 a.m., as a “long scene” where multiple rounds of shots were exchanged. 

“This suspect was not going to retreat peacefully,” Jacobson said at a press conference at the New Haven Police Department headquarters Tuesday afternoon. “It’s unfortunate that the suspect succumbed to his injuries, but it’s clear from the initial investigation that he was firing at officers and even was given an attempt to talk to them, and that failed.”

Both West Haven officers were struck in the “leg area” and treated at Yale New Haven Hospital, according to Jacobson. One of the officers has already been released from the hospital.

Three other people were in the New Haven apartment at the time of the shooting: a 32-year-old woman and an 8-year-old girl, both registered to the apartment, and a 52-year-old man. Once shots were fired, Jacobson said, the officers prioritized safely removing the three of them from the apartment. Jacobson and Mayor Justin Elicker met with the girl and the older man later this morning and offered them support, including the city’s mental health resources.

“Thank goodness that the family, the other members of the family, are okay,” Elicker said. “The officers did heroic things to get that grandfather and that 8-year-old safely out of that building.”

As in the case of September’s officer-involved shooting, the Connecticut Office of the Inspector General is investigating Wednesday’s shooting and will release the body camera footage and the name of the slain man in five days. Based on the preliminary investigation, Jacobson said he doesn’t believe the two New Haven officers at the scene fired their weapons.

The New Haven Police Department is at 1 Union Ave.