On the first day of the new year, a family's nightmare was tragically revisited on the streets of New Haven, Connecticut. Dontae Quay Quay Myers, a 23-year-old Black / African American man, became the city's first homicide victim of 2023. In the mid-afternoon of January 1st, the sound of gunfire pierced the air on Grand Avenue, between Poplar Street and Blatchley Avenue. When police arrived around 3:15 p.m., they found Dontae suffering from gunshot wounds.
He was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital, but his injuries proved to be fatal.
The death of Dontae was a devastating echo of a loss his family had suffered just a few years prior. His younger brother, Dashown Tyrese Myers, was also the first homicide victim in New Haven in 2020. In an attempt to protect her remaining son from the street violence that had claimed her youngest, Dontae's mother, LaQuvia Jones, had moved her family out of the city to Middletown. Despite her efforts, Dontae was in New Haven on that fateful New Year's Day. A father of three young children, his death left his mother to grieve the loss of her last son.
In the wake of the shooting, investigators from the Major Crimes Unit began their work, collecting ballistic evidence from the scene. Police officials stated they believed the shooting was not a random act and that Dontae Myers had been targeted. They reached out to the public for any information that could lead to the individuals responsible for this tragedy. As the community mourned, a vigil was held where candles flickered in memory of a young life cut short, a stark reminder of the cycles of violence that continue to plague families. As of the initial reports, no arrests had been made and no suspects had been publicly identified in connection with Dontae's murder.
