A police investigation has closed multiple streets in Willimantic on Monday morning.
Police said their investigation has closed Valley Street and Walnut Street.
Authorities have not released details on what officers are investigating.
This is a developing story. NBC Connecticut will update this story as details become available.
There will be lots of unsettled weather in the week ahead and NBC Connecticut meteorologists are tracking a storm system that will impact the state by the latter half of the week.
Today will be cloudy, but dry with seasonable temperatures in the low 60s.
Tomorrow and Wednesday will be mainly dry with widely scattered showers and otherwise mainly cloudy skies.
By Wednesday, temperatures become a bit warmer in the upper 60s.
Rain is expected to move in during the day on Halloween on Thursday and could continue right into the evening hours. It will likely continue into early Friday before clearing towards the weekend.
You can get the latest forecast anytime here.
Fifteen adults and two children were forced out of their homes overnight after a car fire spread to at least two buildings and turned into a 4-alarm blaze
The blaze was reported some time before 3 a.m. on Jackson Road, according to firefighters. It started as a car fire that soon spread to a 2 1/2-story wooden structure and a 3-story wooden structure.
More than two dozen residents were ushered out of their homes and neighboring buildings were evacuated as a precaution. One man said he alerted other residents of the danger after he was awoken by the sound of the fire alarm and felt a burning sensation.
Several fire departments, including Chelsea, Cambridge and Everett, assisted in the response. Although the majority of the fire was doused, hot spots continued to flare and posed a threat.
Three buildings in total were damaged. The extent of that damage is unclear.
Injuries were not immediately reported. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Hartford police have arrested nine people and multiple quads and dirt bikes have been seized after what they called a quick, last minute operation on Saturday.
Officers said nine people were charged with various offenses and three quads, three dirt bikes and two motorcycles were seized and towed.
Authorities did not release details on the charges, but said most of the people who were arrested were from New Haven or Massachusetts.
Police remind residents that ATVs and dirt bikes are illegal to use on city streets and in parks.
Greenwich police have arrested two men who are accused of being in possession of checks from over 200 people in Connecticut and New York.
On Thursday morning, a Greenwich resident told police that she had watched two people remove mail containing checks from her mailbox around 11 a.m.
When police arrived to the scene, they said they discovered a vehicle matching the resident's description.
After conducting a motor vehicle stop, the two people inside of the vehicle, later identified as 23-year-old Mark Anthony Claudio, of New York, and 27-year-old Dondre Waugh, of New York, were arrested for a variety of charges.
Investigators said they found 368 personal checks from over 200 people spread out over 25 jurisdictions in Fairfield County, Westchester County and New York City.
Officers also said they found marijuana, illegal prescription drugs, fraudulent identifications and fraudulent credit cards.
Detectives are working with police agencies in other jurisdictions and are also coordinating with the U.S. Postal Investigation Service, police added.
Claudio and Waugh are each facing charges including credit card fraud, forgery, larceny, criminal attempt at theft and unlawful production of a payment card. Claudio is also facing an additional charge of operating a vehicle without a license.
They were each held on a $250,000 bond. Neither was able to post bond and appeared in court on Friday.
Police have identified the 35-year-old man from Hamden who died after a shooting in New Haven early Saturday morning.
Officers were called to Shelton Avenue between Goodrich Street and Read Street to investigate a report of a ShotSpotter activation around 2 a.m.
When police arrived, they said they found 35-year-old Curtis McCray Jr. with multiple gunshot wounds.
McCray was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
A crime scene was found and the Bureau of Identification and Homicide Unit responded, police said.
The investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
Anyone with information is asked to contact New Haven Police Department Investigative Services Division at (203) 946-6304. Information can be submitted anonymously.
People are rallying in support of a Darien man who is accused of killing a hotel worker in Anguilla.
Friends and family of Scott Hapgood and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal are rallying around Hapgood and are calling on Anguilla to guarantee his safety when he returns there next month.
Hapgood was on vacation with his family in April. He said he and his family were inside of his hotel room when a worker came to fix a sink.
Hapgood's lawyer said 27-year-old Kenny Mitchell was armed when a knife and a fight broke out.
A police and coroner's report said Mitchell was beaten and choked to death.
Hapgood is charged with manslaughter and will travel back to Anguilla in November to fight his charges.
A former Boston College student has been indicted in connection with the suicide of her boyfriend, Suffolk County District Attorney Rachael Rollins announced on Monday.
Inyoung You, 21, of South Korea, is facing a charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of 22-year-old Alexander Urtula, who was also a student at Boston College.
"The indictment alleges Ms. You's behavior was wanton and reckless and resulted in overwhelming Mr. Urtula's will to live," Rollins said, "and that she created life-threatening conditions for him that she had a legal duty to alleviate."
Urtula reportedly jumped to his death from the Renaissance parking garage in Roxbury around 8:35 a.m. on May 20, just 90 minutes before he was scheduled to walk across the stage at Boston College's commencement. His family had traveled from New Jersey to see him graduate.
"What appeared to be a self-inflicted, horrific tragedy ended up being much more than that," said MBTA Transit Police Superintendent Richard Sullivan, who responded to the incident.
You was present at the time of Urtula's death, Rollins said, having tracked his location as she frequently did on her phone. The district attorney said You had urged her boyfriend to take his life thousands of times during their relationship.
"Ms. You was physically, verbally and psychologically abusive toward Mr. Urtula during their 18-month long relationship," Rollins said. "That abuse became more frequent and more powerful and more demeaning in the days and hours leading up to Mr. Urtula's untimely death."
The abuse was witnessed by family and classmates of both parties and is documented extensively in text messages and in Urtula's journal entries, she said.
"Students come from around the world to attend our renowned colleges and universities, eager to learn and experience our vibrant city," Rollins said. "Their families and loved ones certainly do not expect them to face unending physical and mental abuse."
"This case is a tragedy, but it's just one example of a systemic epidemic."
In the two months prior to Urtula's death, prosecutors said the couple exchanged more than 75,000 text messages, 47,000 plus from You alone.
"Many of the messages clearly display the power dynamic in the relationship, wherein Ms. You made demands and threats with the understanding she had complete and total control over Mr. Urtula, both mentally and emotionally. Ms. You used manipulative attempts and threats of self harm to control him," Rollins said.
"She was aware of his spiraling depression and suicidal thoughts brought on by her abuse, yet she persisted, continuing to encourage him to take his own life," she added.
You is currently in Korea, Rollins said. Officials are working with her representative and are "cautiously optimistic" that she will voluntarily return to Boston, but if not, they will pursue other avenues in an effort to have her extradited back.
The involuntary manslaughter charge You faces is the same one Michelle Carter was convicted of in 2017 in connection with her boyfriend Conrad Roy III's suicide. Carter began serving her 15-month sentence in February and was denied parole last month.
Carter was 17 when Roy, 18, took his own life in Fairhaven, a town on Massachusetts' south coast in July 2014. Her case garnered international attention and provided a disturbing look at teenage depression and suicide.
Carter and Roy both struggled with depression, and Roy had previously tried to kill himself. Their relationship consisted mostly of texting and other electronic communications.
In dozens of text messages revealed during her sensational trial, Carter pushed Roy to end his life and chastised him when he hesitated. As Roy made excuses to put off his plans, her texts became more insistent.
If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting 'Home' to 741741.
NOTE: Supt. Eddie Johnson is expected to respond to Trump's comments at 1:30 p.m. CT. Watch it live here or in the player above.
President Donald Trump tore into Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson and the city's violence in a speech to law enforcement on Monday.
Johnson, who is hosting the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference that Trump addressed, previously said he would not attend the speech because he thought the "values of the people of Chicago are more important" than what Trump would say.
"I can't in good conscience stand by while racial insults and hatred are cast from the Oval Office or Chicago is held hostage because of our views on new Americans," Johnson said.
Trump took notice and addressed Johnson's absence within the first few minutes of his speech.
"There is one person that's not here today. We're in Chicago," Trump said, after thanking several members of the IACP and the crowd. "I said, 'Where is he? I wanna talk to him.'"
"In fact, more than anyone else, this person should be here because maybe he could learn something," Trump said Monday, reading back part of Johnson's statement on values.
"That's a very insulting statement after all I've done for the police, and I've done more than any other president's ever done for the police. Over 100 years we can prove it but probably from the beginning."
"Here's a man that could not bother to show up for a meeting of police chiefs, most respected people in the country, in his hometown, and with the president of the United States," Trump continued.
"And you know why? It's because he's not doing his job," Trump said. "Last year, 565 people were murdered in Chicago. Since Eddie Johnson has been police chief, more than 1,500 people have been murdered in Chicago and 13,067 people have been shot."
Trump claimed that Chicago has the "toughest gun laws" in the country, asking, "That doesn't seem to be working too well, does it?"
Trump then turned to actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a racist and homophobic attack on himself in Chicago's Streeterville neighborhood in January. Smollett was indicted on multiple charges of disorderly conduct in the incident, which were all dropped earlier this year.
"Then you have the case of this wise guy Jussie Smollett, who beat up... himself. And he said MAGA country did it," Trump said, calling the incident a "hate crime" and a "scam" that he compared to the ongoing impeachment inquiry in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Trump then called Chicago the "worst sanctuary city in America," saying the city "protects criminals at a level few could even imagine."
"People like Johnson put criminals and illegal aliens before the citizens of Chicago, and those are his values and frankly those values to me are a disgrace," Trump said.
"I want Eddie Johnson to change his values, and change them fast," Trump said. He then called Chicago's violence "embarrassing to us as a nation."
"All over the world they're talking about Chicago. Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison. It's true," he said.
Trump then relayed a story he has previously told as a candidate in 2016, about a conversation he claimed to have had with an unnamed police officer in Chicago who said he could "fix this killing problem" in one day.
"'These cops are great, they know all the bad guys, sir, they know exactly what to do. We could straighten it out so quickly that your head would spin,'" Trump claims the man told him, alleging Monday that the officer in question no longer worked in law enforcement.
When Trump told this story in an August 2016 interview, he said that he met with a "top" Chicago police officer who said he could stop the "horror show" within a week. Chicago police denied his claim at the time, saying in a statement, "We've discredited this claim months ago. No one in the senior command at CPD has ever met with Donald Trump or a member of his campaign."
When asked about the comments in 2016, Johnson himself addressed Trump's story as well.
"If you have a magic bullet to stop the violence anywhere, not just in Chicago, but in America, then please share it with us," Johnson said at the time. "We’d be glad to take that information and stop this violence."
Following his speech on Monday, Trump then signed an executive order at the conference a White House spokesman said would "address the root causes of crime and better train, recruit and retain law enforcement officers."
Trump's visit to Chicago Monday was his first to the city since taking office, though he's long disparaged the city's violence and its Democratic leaders.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has counted herself among Trump's critics, taking to Twitter on Monday to denounce his speech and voice support for Johnson.
"It's no surprise that @realDonaldTrump brought his insulting, ignorant buffoonery to Chicago," Lightfoot tweeted. "Luckily, in this city, we know the truth and we will not let anyone — no matter how high the office — denigrate who we are as a people or our status as a welcoming city."
"Rather than belittle Chicago's communities with hateful and dishonest rhetoric, he needs to go back to D.C. and face his fate," she continued. "President Trump knows as much about policing as he does running a fair and transparent government. I stand by the Superintendent for living up to the values of this great city and its residents."
Also on Trump's schedule for his visit Monday is a fundraiser at the Chicago Trump International Hotel and Tower, hosted in part by Todd Ricketts, the Republican National Committee finance chair and part-owner of the Chicago Cubs.
Listed among the hosts for Monday's event are RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, Co-Chairman Tommy Hicks Jr. and Trump's Campaign Manager Brad Parscale, per an invitation obtained by NBC 5.
Tickets to the event ranged widely in price, according to the invitation: from $2,800 per person for a ticket to the lunch to as high as $100,000 per person for access to a roundtable discussion with Trump himself.
An estimated 3,000 people gathered near Trump Tower by around 12 p.m. CST to protest Trump's visit, chanting and holding signs calling for his impeachment.
Trump was last in Chicago in September 2016, when he attended a campaign event at the Polish National Alliance in the Edgebrook neighborhood, followed by a fundraiser in suburban Bolingbrook.
He was also in Chicago in March 2016, when protests canceled a scheduled rally at the then-UIC Pavilion at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Campaign organizers told those planning to attend the rally for then-candidate Trump that after consulting with law enforcement, the decision was made to postpone the event.
The White House was alerted as early as mid-May — earlier than previously known — that a budding pressure campaign by Rudy Giuliani and Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, was rattling the new Ukrainian president, two people with knowledge of the matter tell NBC News.
Alarm bells went off at the National Security Council when the White House's top Europe official was told that Giuliani was pushing the incoming Ukrainian administration to shake up the leadership of state-owned energy giant Naftogaz, said the sources.
The official, Fiona Hill, learned then about the involvement of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Giuliani associates who were helping with the Naftogaz pressure and also with trying to find dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden’s son. Hill briefed then-National Security Adviser John Bolton about what she'd been told, said the individuals with knowledge of the meeting.
Hill learned of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's concerns from former U.S. diplomat Amos Hochstein, now a member of Naftogaz's supervisory board.
State police are looking for two people wanted in a series of motor vehicle thefts in Lebanon overnight.
Four dirt bikes with a combined value of $20,000 were stolen from one location on the south side of town, according to police.
A 2018 Hyundai Elantra was taken from another area nearby, and two more dirt bikes and some power tools were stolen from a home near the Willimantic line, police said.
The suspects were captured by surveillance cameras, but they covered their faces during the incidents.
Police are urging residents to make sure their cars and other valuables are locked up.
They also suggest that anyone using Facebook Marketplace to sell items should disable the map feature. Criminals can determine the seller's location using the map and other clues from the photos of the items for sale.
The 18th annual Operation ELF promotion kicked off Monday, and they are looking for donations to help ease the financial stresses military families face because of the call to active duty.
Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and the Connecticut National Guard launched this year's program. There are more than 500 Connecticut National Guardsmen in the deployment cycle and hundreds of other Connecticut residents serving in other branches of the Armed Forces. Operation ELF is a way to give back to those families and support those who have family overseas during the holidays.
Organizers are looking for unwrapped toys, gift cards for grocery and department stores, seasonal services like snow removal and home maintenance, and monetary contributions.
There is also an Adopt-A-Family program, where potential donors are matched with a family in need to provide things like winter clothing, food, help with household expenses and gifts for children.
“Each year, Operation ELF provides the generous citizens of our great state an opportunity to show their support of our men and women in uniform and their families, especially those who are deployed during the holidays” Lt. Governor Susan Bysiewicz said in a statement. “These donations will go a long way in supporting those whose commitment to our country has provided a priceless service. I thank the Connecticut National Guard for their work organizing this donation drive each and every year, and I encourage everyone to give what they can to help those who have given so much to our state and our country.”
Operation ELF kicks off during the holidays, but donations can help support military families throughout the year.
“The holidays are a time to be spent with family, friends, and loved ones,” Maj. Gen. Francis Evon, the Adjutant General, said. “However, some families will be missing a deployed service member this holiday season, and with that comes the added challenges of taking care of households and families back at home so a Guardsman can focus on his or her duty. This is our way of giving back, saying thank you to military families for their sacrifices that support or service members, and hopefully taking just a little bit of that holiday stress off their shoulders.”
Donations may be dropped off at one of the following six drop-off locations between 8 a.m. and 40 p.m. On December 10, the final day of the drop-off period, the William A. O'Neill Armory will host extended hours for drop-offs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Army Aviation Support Facility
Bradley International Airport
85-300 Light Lane (off Route 75)
Windsor Locks, CT 06096
William A. O'Neill Armory
360 Broad Street
Hartford, CT 06105
Armed Forces Reserve Center
90 Wooster Heights Road
Danbury, CT 06702
New London Armory
249 Bayonet Street
New London, CT 06320
Niantic Readiness Center
38 Smith Street
Niantic, CT 06357
Bradley Air National Guard Base
100 Nicholson Road
East Granby, CT 06026
Gift cards and financial contributions can be mailed at any time. For gift cards:
Connecticut National Guard
Office of Family Programs
360 Broad Street
Hartford, CT 06105
Website: https://ctngfi.org.
For financial donations, make checks payable to the Connecticut National Guard Foundation and note "Operation ELF" in the memo line.
Connecticut National Guard Foundation, Inc.
360 Broad Street
Hartford, CT 06105
Please include your name, address and phone number with your donation.
For more information on Operation ELF, call 800-858-2677 or visit the website, the Operation ELF Facebook page, or the Connecticut National Guard Facebook Page.
The dog that was injured in the raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is back with his handler and recuperating from his injuries, Pentagon officials said.
President Donald Trump released a photo of the pup later on Monday.
On Sunday, he hailed the dog's actions while describing the Saturday evening raid — but did not reveal any specifics about the courageous canine's identity.
A New Britain woman is accused of hitting two boys on bicycles then fleeing the scene while driving under the influence in Farmington Saturday afternoon, according to Farmington Police.
Police said they were called to the area of Fienemann Road near the New Britain town line around 4:15 p.m. Friday after the two boys were hit. Multiple witnesses provided a description of the car that hit them - a 2013 tan Nissan Altima.
The boys, ages 12 and 13, were taken to Connecticut Children’s Medical Center for treatment. Their injuries, which were not life-threatening, were described as cuts and a serious leg fracture.
Investigators said the Nissan was driving north on Fienemann Road when the vehicle left the road and hit a highway sign and the two boys. The driver continued on Fienemann and onto Interstate 84 with a heavily damaged windshield. Another driver called 911 and reported the car driving erratically, and Connecticut State Police stopped the car in East Hartford.
Police arrested the driver, identified as 61-year-old Cheryl Noad. Officers said Noad appeared intoxicated and failed roadside sobriety tests. She told police she thought she’d hit a tree.
Noad was arrested and charged with illegal operation of a motor vehicle under the influence, reckless driving, second-degree assault with a motor vehicle, failure to drive in proper lane, and evading responsibility in a crash involving serious physical injury. Her bond was set at $10,000 and she is due in court on November 15.
New Haven Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Carol Birks has signed a separation agreement wiht the Board of Eduction, district officials confirmed Monday.
At a meeting earlier this month, the Board of Education announced they agreed to end Birks' contract.
All but one member of the board agreed to the separation. Board member Dr. Edward Joyner voted against the separation, saying he believed the board had grounds to terminate Birks.
The board said the separation was a mutual agreement and Birks is not officially being terminated. Birks has seven days after signing to rescind her signature.
Dr. Ilene Tracey was named as interim superintendent.
Birks started with the district in 2018.
No other details were immediately available. There is a Board of Education meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
There will be lots of unsettled weather in the week ahead and NBC Connecticut meteorologists have issued a First Alert for Friday, when the worst conditions are expected.
We are tracking a storm system that will impact the state by the latter half of the week.
A strong storm will produce rain and wind on Halloween and into Friday, with the worst of it Friday morning. There could be scattered power outages and thunderstorms for the morning commute.
Earlier in the week doesn't look as bad, but the weather is still unsettled. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be mainly dry with widely scattered showers and otherwise mainly cloudy skies.
By Wednesday, temperatures become a bit warmer in the upper 60s.
Rain is expected to move in during the day on Halloween on Thursday and could continue right into the evening hours. It will likely continue into early Friday before clearing towards the weekend.
You can get the latest forecast anytime here.
Authorities in Puerto Rico filed charges Monday against Salvatore Anello, the grandfather of the toddler who died after falling off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in San Juan.
Puerto Rico's Justice Department said in a statement that it charged Anello with negligent manslaughter.
San Juan Investigations Chamber judge Jimmy Sepúlveda determined cause for the arrest and set bond at $80,000, the Justice Department added. A hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 20.
Chloe was 18 months old when she fell off the 11th floor of the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship on July 7.
The girl was traveling with her parents and her four grandparents. According to the maternal grandfather's testimony, the little girl asked be raised in his arms. He put her on a rail by a window, thinking the glass would hold her. However, the window was open.
In an obituary, Chloe Wiegand was described as a girl who loved to laugh, smile and throw kisses, even at strangers.
"She could get anybody to smile,'' Chloe's mother said in a previous interview. "Her first word was 'Hi.' I mean, she loved people."
NBC CONNECTICUT PRESENTS “DECISION 2019: THE RACE FOR HARTFORD MAYOR” FORUM ON TUESDAY, OCT. 29
THE FORUM WILL BE RE-AIRED IN SPANISH ON TELEMUNDO CONNECTICUT ON SUNDAY, NOV. 3
WEST HARTFORD, CT – (October 24, 2019) – NBC Connecticut and Telemundo Connecticut will host a forum for the 2019 Hartford Mayoral Race on Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2019 at 7 p.m. (EDT). The hour-long forum will air live on NBC Connecticut and will be live streamed on nbcconnecticut.com, the NBC Connecticut mobile app, and on NBC Connecticut’s Facebook page. The program will air in Spanish on Telemundo Connecticut on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 9 a.m. (EDT).
The one-hour forum will be moderated by NBC Connecticut anchor Keisha Grant. The forum will air until 8 p.m. on air and immediately following, it will continue with additional Q+A from the panel on NBCConnecticut.com and the NBC Connecticut app.
“NBC Connecticut and Telemundo Connecticut know Hartford voters are invested in this race and how the outcome is going to impact them and their community,” said Diane Hannes, President and General Manager of NBC Connecticut and Telemundo Connecticut. “Our teams of panelists are here to ask the tough questions and make sure our viewers are informed and prepared come November 5.” The team of panelists include NBC Connecticut Anchor Mike Hydeck, Noticiero Nueva Inglaterra Anchor Grace Gómez and Southern Connecticut State University’s Political Science and Urban Affairs Professor Jonathan Wharton.
This exclusive forum airing only on NBC Connecticut and Telemundo Connecticut will be joined by Hartford’s mayoral candidates — Luke Bronin, Giselle “Gigi” Jacobs, Dr. Aaron Lewis and J. Stan McCauley — each of whom have confirmed the date and agreed to participate.
This is the only Hartford Mayoral forum taking place between Democratic incumbent Luke Bronin and his fellow mayoral candidates.
“This is the perfect opportunity for voters to learn about the candidates looking to lead our capitol city. Those voters speak English and Spanish and we are proud to be able to serve both audiences,” said Janet Hundley, Vice President of News at NBC Connecticut.
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About NBC Connecticut
Owned by NBCUniversal, NBC Connecticut / WVIT serves its audience with local news and weather information across multiple platforms, including more than 40 hours of newscasts each week on WVIT and online at NBCConnecticut.com. The station is Connecticut’s leader with Facebook and Instagram followers and provides mobile users on-the-go breaking news updates and weather information through a customized application. NBC Connecticut’s commitment to excellence in journalism has been recognized with numerous Emmy Awards, and the prestigious Peabody Award and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.
About Telemundo Connecticut
Telemundo Connecticut / WRDM is Telemundo’s local owned television serving Spanish-language viewers in Hartford, New Haven and Springfield, Connecticut. The station delivers its audiences 10 hours of local news as well as Telemundo network’s world-class programming across all platforms. Telemundo Connecticut features Noticiero Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra, the only local Spanish-language weekday newscast that delivers live, local news, real-time weather forecasts, as well as consumer reports and sports information. WRDM is co-located with NBC Connecticut / WVIT in West Hartford. Telemundo Connecticut’s information can be accessed online at TelemundoNuevaInglaterra.com, through the “Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra” mobile app, the station’s social media channels and on local over-the-air channels 19.1 in Hartford and 50.1 in Springfield, Frontier/AT&T channel 13, Cox channel 20, Altice/Optimum/Cablevision channel 16, and Comcast HD channel 1051.
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It was shut down by the feds for substandard living conditions, but now a Hartford apartment complex is getting a new lease on life.
Heritage Housing, Inc. out of South Norwalk bought the dilapidated housing complex called Barbour Garden Apartments for $2.7 million from a New York City property owner.
"What we saw was a property in dire need of renovation and we felt like we could be part of that solution,” Heritage Housing President David McCarthy told NBC Connecticut in August. "To some extent our mission is to improve these kinds of properties.
McCarthy said on on Monday that the sale went through on October 23, and the badly needed renovations to the property will begin next summer. He hopes to have the property ready for new tenants in the fall of 2021.
“It went downhill. You know I’ve seen people move in and out and it’s gone downhill,” said Charlotte Jackson, who lives in the Chapelle Gardens housing complex next door to Barbour Garden Apartments. “I hope that they clean it up because we’re getting mice, and rodents, and roaches from there over here.”
When HUD pulled the previous property owner’s contract in February, residents had to find a new place to live. The relocation process that started in April was supposed to take 90 days, but ended up taking six months. According to HUD, the last tenant was relocated around October 11.
McCarthy told us 48 of the complex’s 84 units would be Section 8 housing, a HUD contract worth $500,000 to his company annually. He plans to invest $7 million to bring the complex up to code by gutting the inside, remodeling the apartments, and redoing the heating system.
“He’s going to have to do a 110 percent rehab,” said Betty Wadley, who lives in Bloomfield.
Wadley dealt with mold and mice in the decade she lived at Barbour Garden apartments. Despite the deteriorating conditions, the complex continued to pass federal inspections year after year.
“I’m sure they can make it look good, but is that going to solve all of the issues at Barbour Gardens? We’ll see,” said Wadley.
Wadley said it is not just the inside that needs a facelift, but the neighborhood as well.
“The gunshots were flying through my house one night. I literally had to roll off my bed, roll on to the floor, and crawl in my bathroom and get in my bathtub for safety,” she recalled.
Wadley relocated to Bloomfield in May, but says she suffers PTSD from fear she lived with daily in Hartford. At first, she was scared to open her windows or walk out her front door.
“I think when I came I was waiting for something to happen because that’s what I was used to,” said Wadley.
Monday night, the Hartford City Council considered the first changes in decades to the city’s housing code, including more enforcement, inspection and accountability.
“This is an important step forward for this property but there are other properties like this out there,” said Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin. “Hopefully, this becomes an example that we can look to of holding the slumlord accountable, getting the building away from that bad ownership and into the hands of a property owner who’s going to work in partnership with residents but also just work with a sense of responsibility.”
Despite the deteriorating conditions and tenant complaints about unsafe living conditions, the complex continued to pass federal inspections year after year. As Heritage Housing begins to bring the property back up to code, Wadley worries that the federal standards it will be held to aren’t where they should be and that the same thing could happen again.
“I think the inspections that they do should be closely watched,” she said. “Is it really going to be livable for them or can they just live with it.”
Quick thinking by an East Hampton teen who was just trying to play video games may have saved a life.
“I took it serious. I stayed on the line and I just kept reassuring him you’ve got a lot to live for,” 14-year-old Reilly Howard explained.
Howard was playing a game when a friend he’d become acquainted with through gaming over the lsat few months called, and eventually said he was thinking of ending his own life.
“He starts to break down...he’s like I’m going to kill myself. I’m going to take my own life. I have nothing to live for,” Riley said.
Howard sprung into action, staying on the line with the teen, who lives in Florida, telling him not to hurt himself, that life was worth living, and eventually getting him to call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline.
“I said ‘you promise you’re not going to do anything because we’re going to play tomorrow?’” Howard recalled.
The call lasted for several hours before the Florida teen was able to get in-person help.
At East Hampton High School, where Howard is a student, he’s being hailed as a hero for practicing compassion and thinking fast.
“He’s like anybody would’ve done that. I think everybody thinks they’re going to do the right thing. But in a difficult situation he really did the right thing,” Principal Eric Verner said. “One person can make a difference.”
Howard said he and the other teen now have a real friendship outside of gaming and speak several times a week. He’s glad he was able to answer the call to help someone he’d never actually met in their hour of need.
“Be there. It’s always good to talk to someone. I was there,” Howard said.
If you are in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting 'Home' to 741741.
