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Hartford Schools: Deadly Basketball Event Had No Permits

Chilli Head
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Creative Commons

One man was killed and three others were shot at a basketball tournament at a Hartford school over the weekend. But city school officials now say the event didn't have a permit or the required security. 

Police got 911 calls to come to the outdoor basketball court at Rawson School Saturday evening. When they got there, they found chaos -- hundreds of people in attendance, people fleeing, and one bystander shot in the head. He later died.

"Our officers on scene immediately came upon a chaotic event with people obviously scattered, people obviously in fear," said Hartford Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley. Three other people were shot with non-life threatening injuries. Two were also bystanders. One, 23-year-old Roosevelt Holmes, was the man police later arrested and charged.

The crowd had gathered for an event know as Heat on the Street, the 2nd Annual All Xity Shootout, that was publicized on social media and at least on one television network in advance

Credit Twitter
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Twitter

But no one requested a permit for the tournament,  according to Hartford schools spokesman David Medina.

Had that happened, Medina said, the tournament would have needed security officers from the Hartford Public Schools. Deputy Police Chief Foley says that, had his department known about the event, it most likely would have been there.

"There was in fact another basketball tournament at the Boys and Girls Club that we did attend," Foley said. "We had several officers there. In fact, the chief stopped in himself. I can't say that would have happened up on Rawson, but we most likely would have definitely had some community service officers at the event and also give it some extra attention from our patrol. Especially something of that size. Just to have a presence."

Immediate efforts to reach the event organizer were unsuccessful.

Jeff Cohen started in newspapers in 2001 and joined Connecticut Public in 2010, where he worked as a reporter and fill-in host. In 2017, he was named news director. Then, in 2022, he became a senior enterprise reporter.

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