In the early morning hours of January 12, 2018, the life of 35-year-old Kenneth Cooper was tragically cut short in a hail of bullets in New Haven, Connecticut. Cooper, a Black male formerly of New Haven but more recently residing in Waterbury, had made a stop at the Tiger Mart gas station on Whalley Avenue with a female companion to buy a ginger ale.
It was a seemingly ordinary moment that quickly spiraled into a fatal encounter.
As Cooper was getting back into his vehicle, a man approached and began speaking to him before gunfire erupted. The city's ShotSpotter system detected the gunfire around 3:08 a.m. in the area of Whalley Avenue and Fitch Street. Mortally wounded, Cooper urged his companion to run. She drove him towards the hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries on the way.
The investigation into Cooper's death moved swiftly. Relying on witness interviews, surveillance footage, and other evidence, New Haven police identified 31-year-old Joshua James Council as the suspect. Just a day after the shooting, an officer on patrol spotted Council near his residence and, with the assistance of other officers, arrested him without incident. Council, a convicted felon who was out on parole, was subsequently charged with murder, criminal possession of a pistol without a permit, and violation of probation.
During the trial, the motive for the killing became clear. Prosecutors argued that Council targeted Cooper because he was cooperating with police investigations, including one involving Council's cousin. The female witness who was with Cooper the night of his death testified with certainty that Council was the shooter. In March 2020, a jury found Joshua Council guilty of murder and criminal possession of a firearm. He was later sentenced to the maximum of 70 years in prison for the slaying of Kenneth Cooper, an act described by the sentencing judge as not only an attack on Mr. Cooper but an attack on the rule of law itself.
