Courtesy of K’wya Stafford

Nearly five months after New Haven resident Jebrell Conley was killed in an officer-involved shooting, his relatives and friends are working toward honoring his legacy through a foundation aimed at preventing future tragedies born from violent upbringings.

Ashley Daniels, Conley’s cousin, established the Jebrell Conley Foundation with help from K’wya Stafford, a friend of Conley’s. Stafford described the foundation as both an “outlet” for Conley’s loved ones’ grief, and a step toward connecting New Haven community members with local violence prevention organizations and youth services. Daniels, who works in social services, said that the foundation is still in its “branching off” phase, as the two women learn about the resources and communities they hope to bridge.

“We needed something to help us get through this grief, because this was unexplainable,” Daniels said. “I created this foundation because I wanted to help youth that grew up similar to Jebrell.”

The foundation is only the latest in a series of efforts by Conley’s loved ones to both honor his memory and call for justice as community members await the results of an investigation into the shooting. In the week after the shooting, New Haveners marched through the Hill neighborhood to demand “justice for Jebrell.” In January, the organization Dare to Struggle arranged a rally outside City Hall in Conley’s memory. Later that month, the foundation’s social media account promoted a “phone zap” to call Connecticut’s inspector general to ask for a “full and fair” investigation into the shooting.

The inspector general has been investigating Conley’s death since September, and has not yet released a final report.

Foundation aims to improve access to community services

Daniels said she felt disheartened by press coverage of Conley after he died from gunshot wounds from police officers on the New Haven Violent Crime Task Force on Sept. 19. She explained that Conley grew up in a single parent household, where he faced a lack of affection from a young age, and that he “never really had a chance” for success because of a lack of support from his immediate family.

Born in 1988, Conley grew up in the Hill with eight siblings and half-siblings, according to a 2016 defendant’s memorandum in a federal drug-related case against Conley.

In the memo, his attorney at the time highlighted Conley’s “determination and diligence” in school — he earned certificates in elementary school for academic achievement, as well as perfect attendance. In middle school he participated in baseball, football and basketball, and played drums for the school band.

Daniels said that Conley was particularly close to his older brother Tyrell Harris, who was “like a role model” to him. Tyrell Harris was killed in 2003. To ​help support his family financially, Conley began using and selling drugs and failed to finish high school, his attorney wrote in 2016.

“He was initiated in a gang at a young age, and at that age that he was initiated into the gang, he was not aware it was a lifelong thing,” Daniels said. “He was like, ‘wow, this is the family and the foundation that I don’t have in my household.’ That was not who he was.”

Conley eventually earned his GED and worked in a Milford restaurant. He was a father to three children. According to Daniels, Conley worked on job applications up until his death.

“Jebrell was stuck. He was trapped, but he tried to get away from it,” Daniels said.

For Daniels, the Jebrell Conley Foundation will help the “little Jebrells” — children exposed to violent or difficult upbringings with the odds of adult success stacked against them.

Stafford and Daniels explained that the foundation aims to act as a bridge between community members in need and a broad range of service programs, including learning opportunities for young children and support systems for formerly incarcerated individuals.

“We were not aware of all of these nonprofits and organizations in our community that are designed to help,” Daniels said. “You always have an option of whether you want to succeed or fail in life, but it is much easier when you know that there’s programs designed to help kids that grew up like you.”

Since Conley’s death, Stafford said, she and Daniels have reached out to various educational and service-oriented organizations, as well as individuals from New Haven Public Schools. 

Stafford said that she and Daniels have also been in conversation with Tirzah Kemp, who directs New Haven’s Department of Community Resilience. That department oversees the Office of Violence Prevention.

“We engage all community residents who want to be a part of decreasing the violence in New Haven,” Kemp said. “People who want to give back, the community residents, I want them to be a part of what our office is doing so they see that it matters to us and we’re trying to make a difference.”

Kemp clarified that the Office of Violence Prevention is not involved in efforts to start the foundation. Rather, she has worked to include Stafford and Daniels in the office’s broader work to address gun violence throughout New Haven. Stafford and Daniels spoke at a community advisory board meeting, and Kemp said that she provides information to them on community violence prevention spaces and the City’s own efforts to curb gun violence.

Since Kemp became the City’s community resilience director last year, she has advocated for a “holistic” approach to curbing gun violence and assisting victims and their families, by connecting them with a broad support system: legal, medical and financial aid, among others.

“It’s critical that we make sure that we include community partners in our work,” Kemp said.“Without the voices of those who have been impacted by gun violence, I don’t know how effectively we can do our work with the community.”

Police reinstate involved officers with investigation underway

Conley, 36, was killed in an officer-involved shooting on Sept. 19 in West Haven, just over the border from New Haven’s Hill neighborhood, where he lived. Eleven officers on a multijurisdictional violent crime task force pursued Conley to serve a federal warrant, which Jacobson said was for an armed robbery in July 2024. 

At a car wash, three officers — a Connecticut State trooper and two New Haven Police Department officers — fired their weapons at Conley, a preliminary status report released by the State Office of the Inspector General found. The two NHPD officers were immediately placed on paid administrative leave.

NHPD Chief Karl Jacobson confirmed that the two New Haven officers had resumed their positions in November, though he did not make an announcement of their return at the time. Jacobson told the News that a preliminary report from the inspector general’s office stated that it did not consider the officers’ actions to be malfeasance, giving Jacobson the power to decide to reinstate the officers on full duty or keep them on administrative leave. 

Jacobson said that both he and the State Police commissioner chose to return the officers to their posts. He said that the body-worn camera footage released after the shooting shows that officers did not fire their weapons until Conley shot his own gun.

“I have to look at that as a chief,” Jacobson said. “My officers know that they’re literally protecting themselves, and I’m going to keep them on admin for a year where they can’t make overtime and they can’t provide for their family or move on from the incident at all? I don’t think that’s fair.”

Jacobson and New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker met with Stafford and Daniels in the fall. Though Jacobson said he found discussions of potential departmental  change “premature” because the State’s investigation is still underway, he emphasized his commitment to “whatever we can do to be better.” He also said that he was impressed by the sincerity that Stafford and Daniels showed in the meeting.

Daniels said that the meeting with Jacobson occurred before the two officers were taken off of leave, and that Jacobson had been unable to provide any updates on the investigation at that time.

Jacobson affirmed that he cannot discuss the investigation directly while it is ongoing. He expects that the Office of the Inspector General, the state agency that conducts investigations into police shootings, will release its final report this summer, around nine to 12 months after the investigation commenced.

The New Haven Civilian Review Board, which monitors and reviews complaints made against police officer misconduct, has a specific provision in its bylaws for situations in which officers’ actions result in the death of an individual. In the event of a fatal officer-involved shooting, regardless of whether a civilian complaint has officially been filed about the situation, the board can initiate a review “to the extent permitted by law.” 

However, the bylaws specify that the board “may not commence review of any death of an individual or discharge of a weapon by an officer” more than one year after the date of the shooting. Because the board does not obtain complaints while the state investigation is ongoing, this time restraint may limit the board’s ability to make recommendations on how the NHPD responds to an officer-involved shooting. 

The board’s bylaws are currently being reviewed by the city’s corporation counsel to determine whether they are completely aligned with state and local law.

Conley’s death marked the New Haven Police Department’s first fatal officer-involved shooting in nearly two decades, Jacobson said in September. The police chief described its aftermath as an ongoing “tough situation” for officers and community members alike.

“I still see the people in my police department that were involved,” Jacobson said. “It’s not easy to do that and then walk away from it. I think we’re all struggling with it to some degree.”

The foundation plans to hold its inaugural event on March 19 at the Dixwell Q House.