On the afternoon of May 7, 2025, Jared Floyd, a 25-year-old male, was fatally shot in Hartford, Connecticut. The incident occurred around 1:28 p.m. in the 1000 block of Capitol Avenue, near the intersection with James Street. First responders discovered Floyd unresponsive at the scene. He was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries and was pronounced dead later that afternoon.
The investigation into Floyd's death led Hartford police to identify 26-year-old Kevin Cruz-Gomez
as a suspect. On June 9, 2025, Cruz-Gomez was arrested and charged with murder and criminal possession of a firearm. His bail was set at $2 million. The arrest warrant affidavit revealed that two witnesses in Plattsburgh, New York, told police that Cruz-Gomez had bragged about the killing. One witness claimed Cruz-Gomez showed them a news article about the shooting on his phone and said, "I caught the body," which the witness understood to mean he had killed someone.
Detectives believe the shooting was an act of retaliation. According to the investigation, Floyd and another man had allegedly been involved in a shooting on April 4, about a month prior to Floyd's death. That earlier incident took place near the same building from which the shot that killed Floyd was believed to have been fired. A ballistics network found a link between a shell casing from the April 4 shooting and a gun that Floyd's girlfriend gave to the police after his death. The man who was with Floyd during the April incident was wounded but uncooperative with police, though he did state that people in that area did not like Floyd and that both he and Floyd were involved in street-level drug sales.
Jared Alexander Floyd, known to friends and family as "Red," was born on June 22, 1999, in Farmington, Connecticut. He was an honor student who graduated from the Pathways Academy of Science and Design in East Hartford in 2017. He had studied the saxophone at the Artists Collective in Hartford and enjoyed various sports. In the months leading up to his death, he had recommitted to his faith and was making plans for his future, including buying a home and traveling. He is survived by his parents, twin brother, older brother, and a large extended family.
