West Haven man charged with firing gun illegally in New Haven

Matthew Hamilton Matthew Hamilton Photo: New Haven Police Department Photo Photo: New Haven Police Department Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close West Haven man charged with firing gun illegally in New Haven 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN — A West Haven man was arrested Tuesday after illegally firing a gun, according to police. He reportedly had a red laser-beam focused on him when he fired.

Matthew Hamilton, 33, of Lattanzi Street, West Haven, was charged with unlawful discharge of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment, carrying a firearm under the influence of alcohol or drugs and failing to carry a pistol permit.

Officers were dispatched to Kimberly Street Tuesday evening for a gunfire complaint, as a caller “told a 911 operator there was a man walking the street yelling he had a gun and was going to shoot” and then fired his weapon, Officer David Hartman said in a release.

Police spoke with the witness after getting to the scene, according to Hartman.

“The witness said she was inside her home and heard a man yelling. She said she went outside and spotted the man. She said he had a red laser-beam dot focused on him,” Hartman said in the release. “She said she saw him pull a gun. She went back inside and phoned police - then heard one shot.”

Officers stopped a man, eventually determined to be Hamilton, matching the description given by the caller, Hartman said. They also found a shell casing near the intersection of Kimberly Street and 1st Avenue.

“A check of the stopped man revealed he had two guns registered to him. As his questioning continued, another officer found a handgun in a nearby alley next to the supermarket dumpster. Detectives from the department’s forensic unit took the gun and casing as evidence,” Hartman said. “Hamilton eventually told investigators he’d fired his gun into the air after he noticed the laser-beam pointed at him.”