In the early morning hours of October 26, 2019, the sound of six gunshots pierced the quiet of a New Haven, Connecticut neighborhood, forever altering the lives of one family. When police responded to a ShotSpotter activation on Shelton Avenue at approximately 2:09 a.m., they discovered 35-year-old Curtis McCray Jr. of Hamden lying unresponsive on the ground. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was rushed to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased a short time later.
The state's chief medical examiner would later determine that McCray's death was a homicide caused by a gunshot wound to the trunk that injured his aorta and lung.
The investigation into the shooting of Curtis McCray, a husband and father, stretched on for more than two years. New Haven police detectives conducted numerous interviews and meticulously reviewed surveillance footage from the area. Their persistent efforts eventually led them to identify a suspect: 37-year-old Michael Holmes. In a strange turn of events, Holmes had actually been the one to call 911 to report the shooting on the night it happened and was known to frequent the area. Despite his initial cooperation with investigators, he consistently denied any involvement in McCray's death, even suggesting that he might have been the intended target.
In February 2022, a breakthrough in the case finally brought a measure of relief to McCray's grieving family. The New Haven Police Department announced they had secured an arrest warrant for Michael Holmes, who was already incarcerated on an unrelated matter. He was subsequently charged with one count of felony murder and one count of felony criminal possession of a firearm in connection with the death of Curtis McCray. Upon hearing the news of the arrest, McCray's mother expressed her gratitude to the police for their tireless work, stating, "I'm so glad that justice, as far as I'm concerned, has been served."
