This was linked from the Union LEader this morning. Looks like the "victim" might've pulled a BB gun on someone who ended up having a real gun:
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16606231&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=566835&rfi=6
SCSU student, 23, shot to death near campus
William Kaempffer , Register Staff
NEW HAVEN — A Southern Connecticut State University student was shot to death Monday afternoon after a fight in a shopping plaza down the street from campus.
Mark Stetson, 23, died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
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Two weapons, a pellet gun and a small-caliber handgun, were recovered at the scene at Blake and Fitch streets, and police suspect one of the weapons might have belonged to the victim.
A police source summed up the prevailing theory as such: "There was some kind of altercation. Stetson pulls out a BB gun. The other guy pulls out a real gun."
Lt. Herman Badger, the head of detectives, said it was too early in the investigation to get into the specifics, but said police are following several leads.
"There was an argument. No one seems to know what the argument was about," he said. He said there were a number of witnesses to the shooting.
"He seems to have been shot at very close range in the chest."
Not long after the shooting, some Southern students who knew the victim began trickling down to the crime scene.
They described Stetson as a "loyal friend" and a "nice kid."
He also had at least some track record of bad behavior. Southern police threw him off campus Thursday after he created a ruckus at a dialogue on Christianity and Islam sponsored by the Southern Campus Crusade for Christ at Lyman Center. One of the event’s organizers didn’t take a phone call Monday night.
At the shooting scene Monday, along with the guns and a cell phone, police recovered a knitted hat that a source said resembled a kufi, a short rounded cap traditionally worn by Muslims. It was not immediately clear if that had any significance to the killing.
According to university officials, Stetson was a football player and hails from Wolfeboro, N.H.
Patrick Dilger, a spokesman for Southern, said Stetson, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound defensive end, transferred here from the University of Maine in January 2005 and worked out with the football team. However, he was dropped from the team in September before the Owls season began for "violations of team polices," Dilger said.
Dilger declined to be specific, and school officials did not release any information about the Thursday incident on campus.
SCSU football coach Rich Cavanaugh declined comment through Dilger.
Dilger described Stetson as an enrolled student. Badger characterized him as a student who was not currently attending classes.
The shooting happened about 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a plaza that contains a DB Mart convenience store, barber shop, laundry and Chinese and Jamaican restaurants.
A worker at Tropical Delights, the Jamaican restaurant, said she only heard the shot.
"I ran there, but the guy was on the street and gasping for breath," said the woman, who declined to be identified. The shooter was already gone, she said.
She said she stood guard over the guns until police arrived.
It didn’t take long for word of the shooting to reach campus.
Jesse Embley, a sophomore on the football team, got a text message that Stetson had been shot. He and James Lukowiak, a senior, came with some other friends to the crime scene to see if Stetson was OK. At that point, police had only said that he was critically wounded.
"I heard it was a buddy of ours who we used to hang out with," Lukowiak said. "We’re pretty stressed out about it."
They said they knew him through the football team, and that he had stopped taking classes. They said they didn’t know why.
When told that two guns had been recovered and one may have belonged to Stetson, both former teammates expressed surprise, saying he was not that kind of person.
"He always stuck up for his buddies," said Lukowiak. "He was a good person to be around."
Embley said he had heard about the incident at the Christian-Muslim dialogue and didn’t know what to make of it, stating again that Stetson didn’t seem like the kind of person who would disrupt an event.
The plaza is a popular stop for Southern students, especially those living off campus.
Some residents said the area has gone downhill. The shopping plaza used to be a good place to visit, they said.
Fred Thompson, who frequently visits his sister on nearby Diamond Street, said he often hears gunfire in the area.
"I don’t know if they’re getting shot or not, but there’s definitely gunfire," he said.
This is the second time an SCSU student has been slain in the city, and the first killing of a college student here in nearly eight years. SCSU student Guy Young, 21, was shot in the back following a dispute involving a group of young men inside Broadway Pizza in 1991. Three other college students have been slain in the Elm City, all who attended Yale: Suzanne Jovin in 1998, Christian Prince in 1991 and Gary Stein in 1974.
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16606231&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=566835&rfi=6
SCSU student, 23, shot to death near campus
William Kaempffer , Register Staff
NEW HAVEN — A Southern Connecticut State University student was shot to death Monday afternoon after a fight in a shopping plaza down the street from campus.
Mark Stetson, 23, died of a gunshot wound to the chest.
Advertisement
Two weapons, a pellet gun and a small-caliber handgun, were recovered at the scene at Blake and Fitch streets, and police suspect one of the weapons might have belonged to the victim.
A police source summed up the prevailing theory as such: "There was some kind of altercation. Stetson pulls out a BB gun. The other guy pulls out a real gun."
Lt. Herman Badger, the head of detectives, said it was too early in the investigation to get into the specifics, but said police are following several leads.
"There was an argument. No one seems to know what the argument was about," he said. He said there were a number of witnesses to the shooting.
"He seems to have been shot at very close range in the chest."
Not long after the shooting, some Southern students who knew the victim began trickling down to the crime scene.
They described Stetson as a "loyal friend" and a "nice kid."
He also had at least some track record of bad behavior. Southern police threw him off campus Thursday after he created a ruckus at a dialogue on Christianity and Islam sponsored by the Southern Campus Crusade for Christ at Lyman Center. One of the event’s organizers didn’t take a phone call Monday night.
At the shooting scene Monday, along with the guns and a cell phone, police recovered a knitted hat that a source said resembled a kufi, a short rounded cap traditionally worn by Muslims. It was not immediately clear if that had any significance to the killing.
According to university officials, Stetson was a football player and hails from Wolfeboro, N.H.
Patrick Dilger, a spokesman for Southern, said Stetson, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound defensive end, transferred here from the University of Maine in January 2005 and worked out with the football team. However, he was dropped from the team in September before the Owls season began for "violations of team polices," Dilger said.
Dilger declined to be specific, and school officials did not release any information about the Thursday incident on campus.
SCSU football coach Rich Cavanaugh declined comment through Dilger.
Dilger described Stetson as an enrolled student. Badger characterized him as a student who was not currently attending classes.
The shooting happened about 3:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a plaza that contains a DB Mart convenience store, barber shop, laundry and Chinese and Jamaican restaurants.
A worker at Tropical Delights, the Jamaican restaurant, said she only heard the shot.
"I ran there, but the guy was on the street and gasping for breath," said the woman, who declined to be identified. The shooter was already gone, she said.
She said she stood guard over the guns until police arrived.
It didn’t take long for word of the shooting to reach campus.
Jesse Embley, a sophomore on the football team, got a text message that Stetson had been shot. He and James Lukowiak, a senior, came with some other friends to the crime scene to see if Stetson was OK. At that point, police had only said that he was critically wounded.
"I heard it was a buddy of ours who we used to hang out with," Lukowiak said. "We’re pretty stressed out about it."
They said they knew him through the football team, and that he had stopped taking classes. They said they didn’t know why.
When told that two guns had been recovered and one may have belonged to Stetson, both former teammates expressed surprise, saying he was not that kind of person.
"He always stuck up for his buddies," said Lukowiak. "He was a good person to be around."
Embley said he had heard about the incident at the Christian-Muslim dialogue and didn’t know what to make of it, stating again that Stetson didn’t seem like the kind of person who would disrupt an event.
The plaza is a popular stop for Southern students, especially those living off campus.
Some residents said the area has gone downhill. The shopping plaza used to be a good place to visit, they said.
Fred Thompson, who frequently visits his sister on nearby Diamond Street, said he often hears gunfire in the area.
"I don’t know if they’re getting shot or not, but there’s definitely gunfire," he said.
This is the second time an SCSU student has been slain in the city, and the first killing of a college student here in nearly eight years. SCSU student Guy Young, 21, was shot in the back following a dispute involving a group of young men inside Broadway Pizza in 1991. Three other college students have been slain in the Elm City, all who attended Yale: Suzanne Jovin in 1998, Christian Prince in 1991 and Gary Stein in 1974.
![[rolleyes]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/042.gif "Roll Eyes [rolleyes]")
Looks like a future felon was taken out.
