Police shoot at a woman near Yale University

April 20, 2019, 23:31 GMT

By Dennis Romero

Protests erupted for the fourth consecutive night on Friday in New Haven, Connecticut, after police opened fire on a car near the Yale University campus, injuring a woman inside.

Stephanie Washington, 22, was hospitalized for non-fatal injuries as a result of death by an officer from Yale and another from the nearby town of Hamden, university officials said. a statement.

"No weapons were observed on the scene," said the Sgt of the Connecticut State Police. Dwight Washington said in a statement.

"It's not just a situation in Hamden or New Haven," Protestant Remidy Shareef of Hamden told NBC Connecticut on Friday night. "This situation is the culture of the police across America."

Black Lives Matter of New Haven had scheduled another event Sunday afternoon. On his Facebook page, the group calls the New Haven, Hamden and Yale fonts a "triple occupation" of the community.

The shooting took place after 4:15 am on Tuesday when police officer Hamden Devin Eaton and police officer Yale Terrance Pollack, responding to an information about an attempted armed robbery at a gas station, intercepted a car red near campus, matching the description of the suspect's vehicle, Yale officials said.

Both officers opened fire on the car, the university said. The police did not explain why the police had deployed their weapons. The agents, Stephanie Washington and the driver, identified by NBC Connecticut as Paul Witherspoon 21, are black.

Hamden Mayor Curt Leng called the shootings "shocking, haunting".

"I am so sorry for the people involved that this has happened, and I am also very grateful that the healing has begun," he said in a statement Saturday. "We will do better, we must do better."

Further details on the shooting, including footage filmed by the Hamden agent, could be released as early as Monday, police sergeant Washington said.

"During the first investigation, we will share all possible information as quickly as possible about the circumstances of the shooting," Yale officials said Wednesday in a letter to the community.

"The university is very open to a transparent process, but I think it continues to describe it as an unfortunate tragedy when in reality, it was avoidable," Joshua told NBC News Saturday. Cayetano, freshman from Yale Divinity School.

The security video of the shoot shows at least one officer firing several shots through the window on the passenger side of the car. Witherspoon is the suspect of the early morning robbery, said police sergeant Washington.

Witherspoon was arrested and released after the shooting, the Hartford Courant reported, adding that his uncle, Rodney Williams, had said the robbery report was an exaggerated claim, based on heated words with a newspaper delivery man at the station. -service.

The State Attorney's Office in Connecticut, assisted by the state police, is investigating the shooting.