In the cold of a February evening in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a dispute over a small wager escalated into a fatal encounter for 28-year-old Javoni Patton. On February 11, 2016, Patton, a Black male, was found shot multiple times near the intersection of Stratford and Connecticut avenues. The first homicide of the year in the city, the event unfolded around 8:40 p.m. when police and medics responded to calls of gunfire.
They discovered Patton, who had stumbled out of his car and collapsed in the intersection. Rushed to Bridgeport Hospital, he was pronounced dead shortly after 9:00 p.m. The scene told a story of a sudden and violent confrontation; the driver's door of Patton's car was left open, and his personal belongings were scattered on the street.
The investigation into Patton's death soon focused on a suspect, Bernard Brandon, then 32. Police learned that earlier in the day, Patton and Brandon had been involved in a dispute over a bet concerning the imprint on Brandon's car keys. The two had agreed to meet later that night to settle the matter. Following the shooting, a manhunt for Brandon was initiated. He was eventually tracked down two months later by the U.S. Marshal Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force, found hiding under a bed in a Fairfield Avenue apartment. Brandon's girlfriend was also arrested and charged with hindering prosecution. Brandon himself faced serious charges, including murder, criminal possession of a pistol, carrying a pistol without a permit, and having a weapon in a motor vehicle. His bond was set at $1 million.
During the subsequent trial, a jury heard testimony about the wager that led to the deadly confrontation. While surveillance footage showed Brandon's car near the scene of the shooting, he maintained that another man, whom he knew only as "Outlaw," was the actual shooter. After a day and a half of deliberations, the jury found Bernard Brandon not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser charge of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm. In July 2019, a judge sentenced Brandon to 27 years in prison for his role in the death of Javoni Patton, a life cut short over what the judge described as a senseless crime.
