On the evening of May 31, 2018, a tragic event unfolded in New Haven, Connecticut, that cut short the life of 28-year-old Tyekqua Nesbitt, a Black female. Just before 11 p.m., in the area of Wintergreen Avenue and Wilmot Road, Nesbitt was shot and killed while sitting in her own car. The devastating act was made even more horrific by the fact that her two young children, aged six and eleven, were in the backseat of the vehicle at the time of the shooting.
The New Haven Police Department
quickly identified a suspect in the slaying: 41-year-old Tramaine Marquese Poole. An arrest warrant was secured for Poole, charging him with murder, criminal possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit, two counts of risk of injury to a minor, and unlawful discharge of a firearm. Authorities described Poole as armed and extremely dangerous, prompting a multi-agency search for his whereabouts. The U.S. Marshals' Violent Fugitive Task Force offered a cash award for information leading to his capture.
In the weeks that followed, Nesbitt's family, including her twin sister and mother, made emotional public pleas for help in locating Poole so that they could have some measure of justice and begin to heal. They spoke of the deep void left by Tyekqua's death and the trauma inflicted upon her children who witnessed the senseless act of violence. The community was on edge, with the knowledge that a dangerous individual was at large.
The search for Tramaine Poole came to a dramatic and violent end two months after Nesbitt's murder. On August 1, 2018, Poole was killed in a shootout with Virginia state troopers. The confrontation occurred after a police pursuit of a stolen vehicle Poole was driving. The resolution, while bringing a sense of relief to the community and Nesbitt's family that he could no longer harm anyone, was also a somber conclusion to a painful chapter. For the family of Tyekqua Nesbitt, while the man suspected of her murder was no longer a threat, the journey of grieving and healing from their profound loss would continue for years to come.
