On the evening of January 19, 2025, a 26-year-old Indian man named Raviteja Koyyada was working, delivering food for a Chinese restaurant in Hamden, Connecticut. A recent graduate of Sacred Heart University with a master's degree in computer science, he was looking for a job in his field and had plans to bring his parents to the United States. His family also shared that he was expected to be married later that year. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Koyyada had moved to the U.S.
in 2022 to pursue his higher education.
Just before 4 p.m. on that Sunday, Koyyada was making a delivery to a residence on Shepard Street in New Haven's Newhallville neighborhood. It was during this delivery that he was shot in what police believe was an attempted carjacking. After the shooting, his car was stolen. Responding to 911 calls about a person down in the roadway, police found Koyyada unresponsive with a gunshot wound. He was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His car was later found parked and unoccupied in a nearby area. The incident was recorded as the first homicide of the year in New Haven.
In the weeks that followed, the New Haven Police Department investigated the killing. A break in the case came when investigators traced the food order that led Koyyada to Shepard Street. According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the order was placed by a person with a female voice. A crucial piece of evidence emerged from a 9 mm handgun that was recovered during a warranted search of a home and was determined to be the murder weapon. DNA found on the handgun was a match to a 21-year-old New Haven woman named Lashae Moore. Surveillance video from a nearby residence also captured the shooting.
In March 2025, Lashae Moore was arrested and charged with murder in the commission of a felony, criminal possession of a pistol, criminal possession of ammunition, and carrying a pistol without a permit in connection with Koyyada's death. She was held on a $2 million bond. Koyyada’s family, thousands of miles away in India, expressed their profound grief and called for the person responsible for his "senseless and brutal murder" to face the maximum possible punishment. A memorial service was held for Koyyada at Sacred Heart University, attended by friends and family in the area.
