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Brazen Shooting Near Courthouse May Have Been Revenge for a Murder

After assailants fired into a car in Bridgeport, Conn., wounding four people, the police chief tied the attack to a killing the night before.

Investigators at the scene of the shooting. The victims’ car is in the middle of the block.Credit...Monica Jorge for The New York Times

There are sensors spread across downtown Bridgeport, Conn., that can pinpoint the location of gunfire and alert the police. On Sunday night, they detected telltale crackles at an apartment building in the area.

Officers arrived to find a 21-year-old man who had been shot in the chest and leg and an 18-year-old man who had been mortally wounded and died a short time later, the police said.

At the hospital, the older man’s father refused to let detectives near his son, the police said. If father or son knew who had shot him, they were not telling. But an apparent answer came quickly.

Just past noon on Monday, in a brazen attack outside a busy courthouse about a mile away, four people in a passing car opened fire on a second vehicle, wounding its four occupants and sending victims and bystanders fleeing for refuge inside the brick-and-stone building, the police and witnesses said.

The assailants drove off in a stolen Volkswagen, but three of them were arrested later in the day, the police said. The fourth was still being sought, the police said.

The shootings occurred against the backdrop of a recent increase in violence in Bridgeport. The city ended 2019 with 17 homicides, six more than the previous year, according to city statistics. The State Police helped patrol the streets for a period last year in an effort to deter crime.

The shooting on Monday appeared to have been carried out in retaliation for the murder on Sunday at the Greene complex, Armando Perez, the city’s police chief, said at a news conference on Monday. He added that the authorities planned to put a quick end to the violence.

“Tonight the city’s going to be on lockdown,” Chief Perez said. “We do not tolerate this type of behavior.”

Three of the victims, bleeding and frantic, rushed into the courthouse and through a metal detector, witnesses said. Two were in surgery on Monday, and the others had sustained minor injuries, the police said. None were cooperating with investigators, officials said.

The shooting happened in a pocket of Bridgeport’s downtown area that is being redeveloped and that has experienced violence in the past.

A year ago, a dispute between families exploded in a brawl in the courthouse’s lobby, according to The Connecticut Post, which described around two dozen men and women “quickly overwhelming the meager force of judicial marshals as horrified onlookers ran for cover.”

The shooting on Monday happened at around 12:15 p.m. outside Bridgeport Superior Court, on Golden Hill Street, the police said. People who were inside the building at the time described hearing a barrage of gunfire outside and then witnessing the mayhem that followed.

“A car came up to the court and started shooting,” said Sam Kretzmer, a lawyer who was in the courthouse.

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Mayor Joseph P. Ganim of Bridgeport discussed the shooting at a news conference. Credit...Monica Jorge for The New York Times

“There were at least 10 shots, one right after the other,” and one victim “ran into the court through the metal detector,” she said. “There was blood everywhere.”

A blue Volkswagen that had been reported stolen in Georgia was seen driving off, the police said, adding that about 20 shell casings had been collected at the scene.

The police quickly announced that the area was secure, with “no immediate threat at this time,” said Rowena White, a spokeswoman for Bridgeport’s mayor. Nonetheless, the courthouse was closed for the day.

Cheryl Platzman Weinstock contributed reporting.

Michael Wilson has been a reporter and columnist at The Times since 2002, writing stories for the New York, National, International and Arts pages. More about Michael Wilson

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 24 of the New York edition with the headline: Brazen Shooting Near Courthouse May Have Been Revenge. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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