Zoe Berg

An 18-year-old woman died after a shooting downtown on Halloween night, according to the New Haven Police Department.

Saturday’s homicide marked the 15th in New Haven this year, according to the city’s latest crime report.

City police officers responded to reports of gunfire at the corner of Church Street and Center Street at 2:34 a.m. on Nov. 1, according to a written statement provided by police spokesperson Christian Bruckhart. Upon arriving, officers identified two 18-year-old women and a 21-year-old man with gunshot wounds. One of the women was soon pronounced dead. She has not been publicly identified.

“Camera footage was located which captured an exchange of gunfire between two people,” Bruckhart wrote. “It does not appear the shooting victims were the intended targets.”

Another 21-year-old man who arrived at Yale New Haven Hospital in a private vehicle reported being shot, according to Bruckhart. His injury was deemed non-life-threatening.

According to a public safety advisory sent to the Yale community just after 4 a.m. on Saturday, witnesses observed a “heavy-set male wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and gray sweatpants with a gun” fleeing west on Chapel Street after shooting a firearm five times. Other witnesses stated that he entered a “blue Nissan Murano” that fled in an unknown direction, the alert said.

The latest New Haven CompStat report — which collects and analyzes reported crime data — on Oct. 26 highlighted a 44.8 percent decrease in confirmed shots fired by that point in the calendar year. Eighty-five shots have been fired in 2025, compared to 154 by time last year.

The report also noted a 40 percent increase in homicides — not including Saturday’s murder — from 10 to 14 by this point in the year.

The intersection of Church and Center Street is located a block from the New Haven Green.