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Sunday, May 24, 2015

WAS PASTOR'S SHOOTING A HATE CRIME?

 The plot thickens.

This is the official version from HPD regarding the shooting of a visiting pastor on Capitol Avenue early this morning: the First shooting happened at 932 Capitol Ave. at 0627 hours, documented under HPD Case 15-15639. The victim is identified as Augustas Sealy DOB 8/14/1959. Sealy is a church Pastor from Mass. Sealy is from Hartford and was posting Flags for Memorial Day in the area of Capitol Ave. @ Newton Street when he was shot by unknown assailant(s). Sealy was shot twice in the right leg and once in the upper left arm. He is in surgery at Saint Francis at this time listed as serious but stable. Investigation is active. MCD detectives and Crime Scene detectives are investigating.

According to at least two  independent sources from HPD , speaking on the condition of remaining anonymous, have told me the shooting may actually be a hate crime. The victim, prior to being shot, was asked by the shooter "if he was gay" according to sources.

A request for comment from HPD Deputy Chief Brian Foley has gone unanswered.

Pastor Sealy was sticking flags into the ground alongside the sidewalk at the Church in honor of memorial day, prior to his being approached and shot 4 times.

It does not appear that Pastor Sealy has any readily available criminal history  at this time.


UPDATE: Another source has told me that Pastor Sealy had actually served as pastor of the Capitol Avenue Church for five years before being transferred to another assignment in Shrewsbury MA.recently. He was back today for a celebration of his five years of service in Hartford apparently

IS THE DEATH PENALTY OK IN HARTFORD?

Comments posted on other social media sites the last few days seem to be stating  that Hartford's recent homicide victims are the result of their drug dealing ways. Now I don't doubt that many of the victims are living less than stellar, crime free lifestyles. But I have also not seen HPD state that they are all drug dealers , or even make the link for that matter between the homicides and any alleged motives. I think the posters are ready to assume that since they are murdered, they must be up to no good.

You know  what they say happens when you "assume".

This morning a visiting pastor from Shrewsbury , Massachusetts was shot 4 times in front of the Church of the Nazarene on Capitol Avenue. The pastor's crime crime? Sticking American flags into the ground lining the sidewalk of the church in honor of Memorial Day. If you fall in line with the Downtown thinking, he must be a drug dealer to  invite being shot 4 times.

Also, many of the recent shootings involve numerous shots fired, evidence shows in some cases 25 or more rounds fired. In one of the cases after 26 rounds, the victim was only grazed once. Where do you think those other rounds went? Accuracy is clearly not the priority or strong point of Hartford's shooters. Who knows where the other rounds landed

Could an innocent victim just driving by on Main Street take a bullet? Could a child sleeping in their bedroom be a victim of wayward bullets. How about a senior sitting by their front window watching television. To say that the violence only affects drug dealers is both ignorant as well as irresponsible. We should be screaming at our City leadership to end this violence, not condoning it by thinking " I am not a drug dealer so it won't happen to me"

And anyone that knows anything about economic development should understand that violent crime , especially homicides and gun violence makes it very difficult to attract new residents and businesses, no matter what the excuse. Anyone who has paid attention to Chief Rovella's public speeches knows he often partners Hartford's crime rate with the possible success or future of Hartford's Economic Development potential. To ignore the connection is shortsighted.

Until then, sentencing criminals to death at the hands of other criminals in Hartford is not acceptable. We will probably see many innocent victims of Hartford's death penalty by the end of summer of we are willing to accept it.

Luckily Pastor Seely is expected to survive his shooting, at least 10 others so far this year have not.

At least one Police Official told me this morning  Pastor Seely's shooting may have been a gang related type of initiation  to show that the shooter "was worthy", If that has any possibility of being true, that is a very scary thought.

Mayor Segarra and Council, what is the plan? Have you thought about what needs to be done. Show us some leadership please.

FROM HPD: PASTOR SHOT 4 TIMES IN FRONT OF CHURCH SUNDAY MORNING

First shooting happened at 932 Capitol Ave. at 0627 hours, documented under HPD Case 15-15639. The victim is identified as Augustas Sealy DOB 8/14/1959. Sealy is a church Pastor from Mass. Sealy is from Hartford and was posting Flags for Memorial Day in the area of Capitol Ave. @ Newton Street when he was shot by unknown assailant(s). Sealy was shot twice in the right leg and once in the upper left arm. He is in surgery at Saint Francis at this time listed as serious but stable. Investigation is active. MCD detectives and Crime Scene detectives are investigating.  

Second shooting happened at 402 garden St. at 0641 hours, documented under HPD Case 15-15640. The victim is identified as Robert Jones DOB 2/29/1987. Jones is a Hartford resident with a criminal history. Jones was walking in the area of 402 Garden St. when a unknown lone shooter approached him and started shooting. This shooting is captured on video. Jones is at Saint Francis listed in critical condition. He was hit by gunfire in the chest groin and both arms. MCD and crime scene detectives are actively investigating this shooting also.  

 

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

HARTFORD'S SNOW PLOWING PROBLEMS REVEALED BY SEGARRA

The Mayoral forums being held across the City to educate voters are so helpful as well as informative. Last nights forum held in the West End allowed the audience members to ask questions to assess the candidates. One question asked by a resident was about the conditions of Hartford's streets after snowstorms. It was interesting to get Mayor Segarra's  perspective and his ability to identify and solve problems.

Segarra's response left many in the audience shaking their heads. Now I am not writing a comedy sketch here, he actually said this. Segarra said the poor condition of Hartford's streets  is caused by our suburban neighbors who  come into Hartford and then clean their cars off, sweeping the snow onto Hartford's streets. Yes, our esteemed leader has identified the problem. Is this maybe the answer as to why Hartford is such a mess? If this is Segarra's grasp on reality, is it any wonder he has such a poor record of fixing the problems.

Damn those suburban car sweepers, its all their fault. And all this time I thought it was DPW.

FROM HPD

On May 19, 2015, Detectives from the Hartford Police Vice and Narcotics Unit received information that a Parole violator operating a blue, four door Lincoln with tinted windows was in possession of narcotics and a firearm.  With information provided, Detectives were able to locate and positively identify the individual in the suspect vehicle as Miguel Diaz, 35, of Wethersfield, CT.  Hartford Narcotic Detectives with the assistance of South Condition Officers and the State Police Narcotics Task Force (SNTF) attempted to stop the vehicle.  The vehicle failed to stop for Detectives and a clear plastic bag was observed thrown out of the vehicle window before fleeing the area.  The clear plastic bag was located and contained 309 bags of Heroin. Surveillance was established at a location on Hillside Avenue identified by Detectives as a “Hideout” for Diaz.  Diaz and a second individual identified as Felix Hernandez, 39, of Hartford were located in the area and detained.  Consent to search was obtained for that location where Detectives located a firearm, along with narcotics and packaging material.  The evidence seized by Detectives through the surveillance and search is listed below:
 
Seized Evidence
$4099.00 in U.S Currency was recovered
10 grams of raw heroin as well as 609 bags of heroin
Hi-Point 9mm handgun and a box containing numerous live 9mm rounds
 
Arrested: Miguel Diaz 35, of Wethersfield CT (also had a warrant for an escapee from Parole)
CHARGES:
1.      Possession of Narcotics
2.      P.W.I.T.S Narcotics
3.      Criminal possession of firearm
4.      Reckless driving
5.      Reckless endangerment
6.      Failure to obey Officer signal
7.      Drug Factory
ARRESTED: Felix Hernandez 39, of Hartford CT
CHARGES:
1.      Possession of Narcotics
2.      P.W.I.T.S Narcotics
3.      P.W.I.T.S Narcotics 1500 feet of a school
 
 

WHITE HOUSE ACCOLADES MEAN VERY LITTLE ON STREETS OF HARTFORD

 
While the Segarra Administration was out thumping their chest last night in response to the White House's praise  for Segarra's Community policing program, the violence on Hartford's streets continued. A 17 year old was shot in the head on Irving Street last night in a flurry of gunfire. He was taken off life support this morning and pronounced dead. At least 17 gunshots were picked up by shotspotter.

This was Hartford's third homicide in three days, and one of several shooting incidents, At one of the shootings ,  26 spent casings were recovered.

I don't know if  Mayor Segarra is that far out of touch with what is happening in our community or is he just delusional. I think a combination of both is fitting. I am not sure how anyone can instill confidence in the community by only singing the praises and ignoring reality. The fact of the matter is that  Segarra an his Council allies have decimated the ranks of the Hartford Police Department over the last several years. The number of sworn Police officers at HPD is the lowest it has been in decades and will probably be under 400 in a very short time, Three more officers resigned today to retire and start careers at another department.

All of Hartford's walk beats have been ended a few weeks ago (except for City Hall, funny how that works)  Can it be much longer before Community Service Officers positions are cancelled to fill critical patrol positions. Why is it that a recruit class to fill vacant positions was only filled by Segarra to graduate just in time for the Mayoral and Council elections this fall?

Although most active HPD officers are loving the overtime gravytrain, are we going to see Chief Rovella made the scapegoat as his overtime costs skyrocket due to the lack of planning by City Hall? Who is going to accept the public outrage as their CSO's start disappearing, I'm pretty sure it wont be Mayor Delusional standing in front of the NRZ's explaining it.

And while I am addressing Mayoral honesty, I am getting pretty tired of Segarra spouting his nonsense about "second chances" . Why is he supporting second chances now? Has it become politically popular? Does Segarra forget the name of his former staffer Kennard Ray? If you need a reminder, Kennard Ray was an employee in Segarra's office. I way "was" because as soon as it became public that Ray had felony convictions, Segarra quickly jettisoned him from City Hall and fired him. So much for "second chances".

I doubt there are many people hearing gunshots and witnessing the killings that take comfort in the accolades from the White House. Maybe what Hartford needs is a leader that is more into actual results as opposed to the phony chest thumping as the homicides and shootings escalate.