On a Sunday morning, just before 5 a.m. on November 8, 2020, the sound of gunfire shattered the quiet of McKinley Street in Hartford, Connecticut. A ShotSpotter activation and calls from concerned citizens reporting a person shot sent patrol officers rushing to the scene. Upon their arrival on the west sidewalk of 13 McKinley Street, they found a man suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The victim was 38-year-old Hispanic male, Guillermo Rivera.
Emergency services transported Rivera to Hartford Hospital, but his injuries were too severe, and he was pronounced dead. The Hartford Police Department's Major Crimes and Crime Scene Divisions took control of the investigation, beginning the arduous process of piecing together the events that led to the fatal shooting. Guillermo, known to his loved ones as "Guillo," was born in the Bronx, New York, and had grown up in Manchester, Connecticut.
In the weeks that followed, detectives from the Major Crimes Division worked the case, gathering evidence and following leads. Their investigation soon pointed them toward a suspect: Craig Gore, an East Hartford resident also known as “Apex.” Investigators determined they had enough probable cause to charge Gore with the murder of Rivera.
Detectives secured a murder warrant for Gore, and a judge set his bond at $1 million. By the time the warrant was approved, Gore was already in custody. He had been arrested by Hartford Police on unrelated narcotics charges on November 17, 2020, just nine days after Rivera's death, and had been incarcerated since that arrest. The investigation into Guillermo Rivera's death was announced as active and ongoing.
