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Gunshots at night, a body in the morning: Meriden neighbors say enough is enough

Police were called for a body found on Foster Court

MERIDEN, Conn. — An uptick in crime has neighbors calling for a stop to the violence.

Earlier Sunday morning, police found the body of 34-year old Casey Eric Shoonover after reports of shots fired in the area.

The first thing people told FOX61 crews is that they feel for the family and send their condolences, but go on to say that between dealing with covid-19 and the recent uptick of gun violence its a lot to take in.

“I mean we’re very concerned because it’s our neighborhoods, it’s where we live, it’s where we raise our families,” said Holly Wills who is the President of the Council of Neighborhoods.

Police say when they responded to the early Sunday morning shots fired call on Grove St., they first saw nothing.

According to officials, witnesses say that they saw two cars speed off moments after the reports of shots fired and according to police it was later that morning after sunrise a body was found on Foster Court.

The man found dead was later to be identified as 34-year-old Eric Casey Shoonover where police determined the shooting was the cause of death.

Police ruled this incident as a homicide because Shoonover was found not too far from where the gunshots were reported.

Wills says Meriden is already a small community and this type of violence is not normal.

“Unfortunately probably from the spring until the fall we’ve had an issue with increased gun violence here in the city, the Meriden police department is working extremely hard to solve these cases; they have taken multiple guns off the street and also made multiple arrests in our neighborhood,” said Wills.

Meriden police say they do not believe this was a random act of violence and at last check applied for a search warrant of the area to find more information.

Another resident we spoke to say people to remember every life is precious.

Lynn Sikora said, “ Violence doesn’t help anything it just makes situations worse and you don’t need guns; just speak to somebody and just stop the violence.”

This incident is still an active investigation and if you have any information on this incident you are asked to call the police.

Anyone who may have any information regarding this investigation is asked to contact Detective Visconti at (203) 630-6252. Anonymous information may also be reported to the Meriden Tip Line at (203) 630-6253 or by e-mail at mpdtips@meridenct.gov.

Meanwhile, neighbors FOX61 spoke to say this weekend was just violent altogether, noting a separate incident where there was an armed robbery the day prior to the homicide.

This all happened at the Petrex gas station on West Main St. in Meriden.

Police say it happened Saturday around 8:30 p.m. in the evening.

A store clerk told police a male suspect displayed a handgun, robbed the store and ran away before police got to the scene.

No one was injured, but according to police they do have a suspect in mind., but will not be releasing the name until he is in custody.

Neighborhood representatives say this a good time to remind people if they see something, say something.

Wills said, “Please if you see something, you need to say something, the Meriden Police department does have a tip line that you can certainly email or phone into and those calls can be kept anonymous, please make sure you take advantage of that because we need to help them as much as they help us.”

Police want to note that the suspect was on an ankle bracelet, but cut it off prior to the robbery.

The suspect’s parole officer has been notified and an issue for his arrest has been made.

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