From the Connecticut Post:
A teenage girl is dead, just hours after gunmen sprayed the Brooks Street porch she was on, striking her in the head and wounding her two friends just before 2 a.m. Saturday.
Keijahnae “Nu Nu” Robinson was pronounced dead at Bridgeport Hospital early Saturday evening, according to city officials.
The two friends, a 15-year-old male and a 17-year-old female, also shot in the attack are being treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Now community activists like Lyle Hassan Jones and politicians like Ernie Newton II, are calling on Mayor Bill Finch and Police Chief Joseph Gaudett to take action.
“They got to bring in the feds, start rounding up these gangs and laying down the law,” said Jones, a city truant officer who preaches against gun violence as a Sunni Muslim imam at the Al-Aziz Islamic Center on Fairfield Avenue. “This lawlessness and recklessness has got to end.”
“We’re losing our babies out there,” said Newton, whose daughter Kayla was a classmate of Robinson’s at New Life Academy and more recently Bullard-Havens Technical High School. “I’m telling families we got to do something. Today it was Nu Nu. Tomorrow it could be your child.”
Newton believes a task force needs to be established and State Police need to be called in–like they were in the late ’80s and ’90s when he said “bodies in Bridgeport were falling like rain drops.”
“I’m not saying the police aren’t doing their job, they are,” he said. “But there is nothing wrong in asking for help.”
Not long before the shooting, the trio had left a Sweet Sixteen birthday party at the White Eagle Club on East Washington Avenue. Security at the club cut the party short after a fight broke out and sent everyone home.
As Robinson and her two friends were talking on the porch at 449-51 Brooks Street, the gunmen were perched at the corner of Stillman and Brooks streets from which they opened fire on the porch, according to police. They then fled east on Stillman Street in a dark-colored car.
Saturday’s shooting was strikingly similar to the Jan. 7 killing of Justin Thompson, a 14-year-old, who was with a group when gunmen fired on them following a Sweet Sixteen party at the Innovation Center in the East End. Police closed down that party for fire code violations and sent the nearly 100 guests into the street. Approximately 45 minutes later, two gun men approached the group firing on the group. Thompson was killed and two companions were wounded.
Nor are these the only teenage shooting deaths in the city.
Last year Blair Blecher Jr. was shot to death in August. The year before Anthony “Boobie” Padilla lost his life to bullets at just 16.
Eldorado Anderson, who had the girl as a former student at New Beginnings Family Academy said about 100 people gathered in the lobby and outside of Bridgeport Hospital to pray for her and show their support.
“Everybody’s just in shock,” Anderson said.
Keijahnae’s former teacher, Maria Jukic, said the girl is an excellent student and that she got along with everyone. She is a student at Bullard-Havens.
“She protects everybody. She shows promise,” Jukic said. “She knows what she wants and she is going to go out and get it.”
Anyone with information on Saturday’s shootings is asked by police to call detectives at 203-581-5251.
Lennie, Kiss my Puerto Rican Bass!
www .ctpost.com/local/article/Feds-refile-suit-against-Bass-Pro-3723969.php
Joel … just goes to show you how inept the flies and leeches who run Bridgeport are. They don’t do their due diligence and this is a sample of the result. Thanks to Bill Finch, Adam Wood, Andy Nunn, Charlie Carroll and their predecessors.
I was suspicious as to why the City kept the name of this tenant quiet ’til the last minute–on a weekend. The minute I read about the tenant (Bass Pro), I did a search of federal court records and found the complaint which I shared with K. Torres of the CT Post. I was shocked reading the original complaint and I was sure this was an event I should not attend.
Again, this is NORMAL. That is the way the system works. The Feds had a choice to appeal and they did. BPS could be found negligent on the grounds of improper adverse impact testing. Although the spin the Post put on this story looks rife with assorted violations, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff to argue successfully.
The constructive discharge/sex discrimination allegation that was made by the female employee will most likely be settled.
When it comes to this type of thing, unless the documentation is pristine on the part of the plaintiff(s), it is very difficult to prove what is essentially a “he said she said” allegation. Now, since the plaintiff(s) have oodles of taxpayer dollars to spend, they will push the issue and arrange a major pissing match that could ultimately bite them in the posterior. But that will be a non issue because … companies of this size SETTLE. The cost of defending this would be more enormous than the settlement number. But the involved commissions push through with this stuff because of assorted “buzzwords” and base level criteria checklists.
This will die a natural death and should have NOTHING to do with the raising of a successful BEPO business unit.
Thanks Joel for the article. When Bass had their big event here I noted on OIB there were no people of color in the pictures that were online, then more pictures were posted in another article that did show a few people of color and I questioned that at that time without knowing anything about Bass.
Did you notice anyone following and watching the few blacks in attendance?
We are in a crisis in Bridgeport with these shootings especially with the killing of our youth. I do not blame Mayor Finch or the police chief for these shootings but it is obvious they need help because nothing they are doing is getting guns off our streets or is doing anything about these gangs. How many more mothers must we see crying over the death of their child?
It’s a shame we keep losing our young people to gunfire. It’s time to put in tough police practices. It’s time for a stop and frisk policy.
Is this a controversial policy? Yes it is. Is it profiling? Yes it is.
If we can get one gun off the streets because of this policy then it’s worth it. If we can arrest someone with an outstanding warrant then it’s worth it.
There are those amongst us who will say this is discrimination and minorities are being singled out. Guess what, the shooters for the most part are minorities and the victims are almost 100% minorities.
Politicians are not going to do much because they want the campaign money from the NRA. If the politicians were going to do anything they would have done it years ago. They would have banned assault rifles years ago. They would have tightened up regulations vis-à-vis longer waiting periods. Gun owners who do not store their guns properly and lose them to a burglary should be held responsible in some measure.
It looks as though there were two homicides yesterday. There was one at 46 Wood Ave. Too close for my comfort. Really really disturbing. And the girl on Brooks? Seriously heartbreaking.
The CT Post doesn’t write about every arrest case involving a gun. Bridgeport police officers are getting guns off the streets on almost a daily basis. There is hardly a day I don’t see officers writing their reports with the confiscated gun/s or drugs nearby. I had a laugh the other day when I read a CT Post article about the guy from Westport who urinated on the floor at booking in the BPD.
OIB predictions for 2013:
1) Lennie Grimaldi’s OIB webzine will be the first in Connecticut to feature Bass Pro advertising
2) After the Presidential US elections, Israel will strike Iran.
3) The price of gasoline is frozen for now and after November 15, 2012 will start to rise. This rise will be blamed on the Iranian and Israeli conflict.
*** Time for “ACTION,” not words anymore! ***