Yale Daily News
On Friday night, multiple shots were fired at the exterior of Paul Whyte’s home while he and his family were inside. No one was injured.
Whyte is the assistant superintendent for high school and alternate programs for New Haven Public Schools. In a press release the same day, New Haven Police Captain Anthony Duff confirmed the shooting was at Whyte’s home around 7:30 p.m. Duff added that the reported gunman was in an SUV traveling south on Osborn Avenue toward Goffe Terrace in the Beaver Hills neighborhood. The New Haven Police Department stated that it does not yet know the motive for the shooting.
“I went to see Dr. Whyte and his family last night upon hearing about the shooting incident. I was relieved at this moment, traumatic as it was, to hear that Dr. Whyte and his family were physically unharmed by the gunfire,” reads Mayor Justin Elicker’s press Saturday release on the incident. “This moment is also a reminder that, with crime on the rise nationally and in our City, bullets have no name.”
Elicker encouraged anyone with information about the Friday evening incident or other crimes to contact the NHPD at 203-946-6304.
The Beaver Hills neighborhood has held ongoing conversations since October regarding its slight uptick in crime. According to the latest CompStat report from the NHPD for the last week for January, total crime in the neighborhood is 28.2 percent lower compared to the 2020 average. Still, the number of confirmed shots fired is up 500 percent.
Ward 29 Alderman Brian Wingate represents the Beaver Hills neighborhood. In an interview with the News, Wingate wished Whyte and his family well and said that he was praying for their safety.
“I am concerned,” Wingate said. “If you see the number of crimes in New Haven, it’s going up, not down. Now it’s filtering to spots you don’t normally see. Everybody has got to be vigilant [and if they] see something, say something.”
Wingate added that he would like to see relevant law enforcement parties including NHPD, the mayor, aldermen and clergymen to come together to work on solutions to rising crime rates in the Elm City.
Friday’s shooting came just one day before the death of a Yale School of Environment student, which is being investigated as a homicide. In a Saturday press release, Elicker again referred to the spike in crime and reaffirmed the city’s commitment to justice.
“To those who continue to perpetrate these crimes: you undermine the safety of our residents and yourselves,” Elicker wrote in a press release Sunday afternoon. “You continue to promote fear for our safety in our everyday lives. We, as a community, will not stand for this and we will be relentless in efforts to provide justice for all of the victims, their families, and loved ones.”
“We were shocked at what was happening,” Whyte told the New Haven Independent. “I want a safe city for all of our kids, for families, for everyone.”
Whyte declined to comment on the incident when contacted by the News on Saturday evening.
The Beaver Hills neighborhood covers an approximately 100-acre area north of Goffe Street and east of Ella Grasso Boulevard.
Talat Aman | talat.aman@yale.edu
Christian Robles | christian.robles@yale.edu