http://www.courant.com/community/news/mr/hcu-middletown-shooting-0506,0,6172233.storyStudent Shot Dead Near Wesleyan; Gunman At Large
The Hartford Courant
2:44 PM EDT, May 6, 2009
MIDDLETOWN
A Wesleyan student was shot and killed in a midday shooting at a popular bookstore near the Wesleyan University campus, police sources said.
A witness said someone entered Broad Street Books, at the intersection of Broad and William Street, approached a woman behind the counter and fired multiple shots around 1 p.m.
Police are still searching for the gunman, whom they describe as a white male with a thin build. They recovered a gun at the scene, said Middletown Police Lt. Margaret Liseo. Police have cordoned off the area, she said.
All schools in Middletown were locked down as a precaution, Liseo said. A statement from Wesleyan University recommended that students and staff should remain indoors and remain there until further notice.
Police and medical personnel have temporarily closed nearby streets. Officers appeared briefly on the roof of Broad Street Books. Armed officers in fatigues are in the area, and two officers followed a police dog as it ran up William Street, apparently in pursuit of the suspect. Police said the gunman was a white male with a thin build.
The university also canceled the annual "Spring Fling" outdoor party on campus. Hundreds of students had gathered on campus for the event that started at noon today but were ordered to go indoors after the shooting.
Copyright ? 2009, The Hartford Courant
i miss the days when, if you had a problem with someone, you just beat the
**** out of them....
Holy crap. My lady lives in Middletown...
Violent crime and economic conditions = direct correlation.
Blame Bush :lol: (but, really)
Yeah - but it doesn\'t sound like a robbery. My guess is that there\'s a relationship gone bad somewhere in the story; that\'s always good for a little stalking and murder.
Oy - imagine being a parent paying $40k plus a year for tuition, and then hearing about that....
My brother worked at that bookstore for three years... scary.
THe area surrounding Wesleyan is pretty shitty. No surprise here.
I\'m guessing that Dweasal is correct that it was a relationship gone bad... Their violent crime numbers are pretty low:
2001-2006Murders - 5 (0.83 avg.)
Forcible
**** - 14 (2.3 avg.)
Robbery - 139 (23.2 avg.)
Aggravated Assault - 168 (28 avg.)
That may seem like a lot, but the town in I live in who population is 32,000 more, the violent crimes are nearly 4 times as much...
That being said, it shouldn\'t happen anywhere..
i know a few tapers that were headed there for that spring fling today too..
On a positive note, Wesleyan won the lacrosse NESCAC title last Sunday. yaaayyyy.....
Uggh. HORRIBLE. I went to Wesleyan.. Biz Markie actually played at our Spring Fling. Middletown wasn\'t the greatest, but I didn\'t realize crime had gotten this bad.
Middletown has a bad area ?
I used to drive through it all the time, still go that way when going to my moms. Never once felt any kind of uneasiness about the place
It definitely wasn\'t anything like the North end of Hartford.
And if someone went in and simply shot a woman and didn\'t rob the place or anything then I think the relationship gone wrong is probably the correct assumption.
You\'re right - it\'s not really that bad a place. But this thing seems to have had nothing to do with the neighborhood. The girl was a target for this guy and if she worked in West Hartford it might have happened there.
Jilted men should just boil bunnies and stay away from guns.
OMG!
People can be shot anywhere, anytime!
OH NO!
Guess you should probably consider yourself lucky, eh?
You just never know who you are dealing with. This could be any number of things. Maybe they were friends and she didn\'t reciprocate his feelings for something more? Maybe they DID date but he creeped her out, because to be honest, he looks a little creepy. Who knows.
People are psycho unfortunately. But I wonder if it\'s always been like this and now we just hear about it more. It\'s scary any way you look at it.