NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release:  Sunday, May 15, 2005

INFORMATION FROM COMMUNITY OF SHOTS FIRED FROM VAN LEAD TO TWO SUSPECTS.

(Hartford) - Two suspects were being treated at Hartford Hospital and will face numerous charges upon their release following reports of a passenger in a Chevy Lumina firing shots at a crowd followed later in the day by the suspect vehicle ramming a marked police cruiser and crashing into two parked cars while attempting to escape from police.

At approximately 0411 hours on Saturday, May 14, 2005, Hartford Police received information from a citizen caller of a passenger in a white Chevrolet Lumina, in the 200 block area of Wethersfield Avenue, firing shots toward a crowd then speeding off south on Wethersfield Avenue.  A description of the vehicle was broadcast and an unsuccessful canvass of the area conducted at the time.

Later the same day, at approximately 4:30 p.m., HPD Patrol units responded to another report of the white Lumina circling the same area of Wethersfield Avenue.  Officers of the HPD's Southwest Conditions Team, operating an unmarked car, spotted the suspect vehicle traveling north on Wethersfield Avenue in the area of Alden Street.  Officers radioed their location as HPD Patrol units attempted to stop the Lumina at Stonington and Groton Streets.  At this time the operator of the Lumina rammed a marked police vehicle, then continued north on Main Street then east on Charter Oak Avenue, as police followed. 

The operator of the suspect vehicle lost control of the van crashing into two parked cars at Charter Oak and Huyshope Avenues.  The vehicles sustained heavy damage.  Three suspects in the white Chevy Lumina sustained serious, non-life threatening injuries, and were admitted to Hartford Hospital for treatment. 

The occupants, Jorge Torres, DOB 12/27/83, of 40 School Street, East Hartford, and Angel Arroyo, DOB 10/21/85, of 665 Garden Street, will face numerous charges pending their release.  The third occupant of the vehicle, a juvenile, was released to parents at Hartford Hospital.

In commenting on the incident, HPD South Division Chief Michael Fallon said, "Situations like this, where citizens provided valuable information about a dangerous activity thereby enabling police to take preemptive action to prevent further violence, is where positive relationships between the police and community pay off.  We cannot do it alone.  This type of incident is a perfect example of how successful  community relationships can impact public safety in our neighborhoods."

Contact:   Nancy Mulroy, Public Information Officer, Hartford Police Department,  (860) 543-8746
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