In the quiet, early hours of a Friday morning in Waterbury, Connecticut, the life of 17-year-old Taevan Moshier, a Black male, was cut short. On January 22, 2021, a sequence of events born from a planned robbery spiraled into a fatal tragedy, leaving a community to mourn a young life lost to violence. Moshier, a senior and student-athlete at John F.
Kennedy High School, was known for his love of basketball and football, a young man with a clean school record who was well-regarded by those who knew him.
The night of his death, Moshier was with a group of teenagers on Esther Avenue who were allegedly waiting to rob another 17-year-old male. When the intended target arrived to visit a female acquaintance, a fight broke out. The situation quickly escalated, and multiple gunshots were fired from at least two handguns. In the exchange of fire, the intended robbery victim shot Moshier in the chest. Following the shooting, the intended victim fled the scene in a Hyundai Sonata, pursued by Moshier and the other teens in a black SUV.
The pursuit ended in a crash on Alder Avenue. The driver of the Hyundai fled on foot to a friend's house. The occupants of the SUV then drove Moshier to Waterbury Hospital. Despite their efforts, he was pronounced dead shortly before 1 a.m. The official cause of death was a gunshot wound to the torso.
In the days that followed, the Waterbury Police Department's investigation led to the arrest of six juvenile suspects, all between the ages of 16 and 17. The suspects faced a range of serious charges, including murder, robbery, and assault. The alleged shooter, the 17-year-old who was the intended target of the robbery, was charged with murder, tampering with evidence, and illegal sale/transfer of a firearm, among other weapons charges. The other juveniles, including a 16-year-old female, were charged with offenses related to the robbery and assault. Due to their status as juveniles, their names were not publicly released. The community was left to grapple with the loss of a young man and the troubling circumstances that led to his untimely death.
