On the evening of July 10, 2021, a young Black / African American man named Devante Echols, 24, was found with a gunshot wound to his head on Bronson Street in Waterbury, Connecticut. Responding to a weapons complaint shortly before 8 p.m., officers discovered Echols and a firearm lying next to him. He was quickly transported to a local hospital for medical attention, but he succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead.
Investigators believe that an argument between Echols and other
individuals escalated into the fatal shooting. The incident, which unfolded in the area of 19 Bronson Street, appeared to be part of a turf battle related to drug activity, with many of the details captured on surveillance footage from nearby businesses.
Within days, the Waterbury Police Department's Major Crime Division made significant headway in the case. The investigation led to the identification of two suspects. Kyshone Jackson, 45, was taken into custody and charged with a slew of offenses, including murder, criminal possession of a pistol or revolver, and reckless endangerment. When police stopped the vehicle Jackson was in, his mother was also present. She was later found to have a handgun that Jackson, a convicted felon, had passed to her during the stop.
Shortly after Jackson's arrest, a second suspect, 54-year-old Bobby Cooke, was also apprehended and charged with murder, carrying a pistol without a permit, and several other weapon-related offenses. Both men were held on a $3 million bond. Authorities stated that they did not expect to make any further arrests, believing Jackson and Cooke to be the only other parties involved in the altercation that led to Echols' death.
