Stray bullet kills New Haven man, 58, playing solitaire in his home

New Haven police investigate a shooting at 3 Strong St. in New Haven Sunday morning. New Haven police investigate a shooting at 3 Strong St. in New Haven Sunday morning. Photo: Arnold Gold-New Haven Register Photo: Arnold Gold-New Haven Register Image 1 of / 24 Caption Close Stray bullet kills New Haven man, 58, playing solitaire in his home 1 / 24 Back to Gallery

NEW HAVEN >> Sunday was supposed to be a day of joy for Darryl McNair and his family. Hours before, several friends had come over to the family’s home in West Hills to celebrate his 58th birthday and more was planned Sunday.

But as McNair sat in his basement playing Solitaire on his computer just before 2 a.m. Sunday, several gunshots boomed in the neighborhood. They were so loud that they startled his stepdaughter, Chandra Costin, who fell off the couch where she was sleeping.

One stray bullet entered the blue house at 3 Strong St. and struck McNair. He called for his wife, who called police.

Hours after McNair died at Yale-New Haven Hospital, the streets around the house took on the too-familiar look of a crime scene: red and yellow tape, flashing squad car lights and detectives milling about, trying to piece together the clues in a tragedy that left the neighborhood stunned.

McNair’s death was New Haven’s 10th homicide of the year.

“I’m shocked,” Costin said as she stood on Strong Street late Sunday morning. “It hasn’t really kicked in yet.”

She described her father as a family man who loved to cook. He worked in construction with Laborers Local 455.

“He was a peaceful man, to tell you the truth,” she said.

Little was known about what transpired in the moments before the shots were fired Sunday. Neighbors said they did not see what happened and police said their investigation was still in its early stages. Police had initially said that McNair was 61 years old, which was widely reported; they corrected his age late Sunday morning.

The shooting jolted neighbors, who said they consider the area to be safer than other parts of the city.

“This is awful. This is awful,” one woman said as she rolled past the scene in her car. “In his basement, minding his business.”

John Smith, who lives nearby, said he had been invited to McNair’s birthday party the night before.

“He was a standup guy,” Smith said.

Smith said he now fears for his newborn baby and for the safety of his mother, who lives nearby and frequently spends time outside.

“For him to get killed on his birthday, that’s crazy,” Smith said. “I’m gonna get up out of here. It’s out of control. Kids can’t even play outside because (people) be acting crazy.”

Aziz Amezzane, who lives on another street near the scene, said he, too, is trying to get out of the neighborhood as fast as he can.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I have three small kids,” he said. “It’s just not worth it when someone’s getting shot in their own home.”

Amezzane said he saw the police cars blocking Valley Street when he came home from work early Sunday morning.

He called on police to crack down on drug activity in the area; he believes that was a factor in the shooting.

“They have to stop the drugs first,” he said. “I know (McNair) is innocent, but they have to find the reason why they were shooting in the first place.”

Police gave no indication in their statement Sunday morning that the shooting was linked to drug activity in the area. But Amezzane said he’s seen many transactions take place in cars along neighborhood streets in the past.

“They have to do something,” he said. “It’s gone on for so long.”

Sunday’s fatal shooting came at a particularly difficult moment for New Haven. The city was already reeling from a spate of violence that saw eight people shot in the span of one week, including 15-year-old Jacob Craggett, who died in a triple shooting Aug. 8.

Just hours before McNair was killed, Craggett had been remembered in a funeral at which Mayor Toni Harp and Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso pleaded for the community to stop the recent violence.

Messages to Harp’s staff were not immediately returned Sunday.

Gov. Dannel Malloy, who was in the city to kick off his re-election campaign, said that one homicide is “too many” and that an initiative called Project Longevity has reduced the number of shootings and homicides statewide.

Alderman Carlton Staggers, D-30, said he went to the scene of the shooting around 7:30 a.m. Sunday. In a phone interview Sunday afternoon, he said was “very shocked” by the shooting.

“I’m really so sorry for the family,” he said. “He’s supposed to be celebrating his life today.”

Staggers implored anyone with information about the shooting or other problems in their neighborhoods to come forward and talk to police. Anyone with information is asked to call the police department’s Major Crimes Unit at 203-946-6304.

“Somebody needs to come forward if they saw something,” he said. “That’s the main key right there.”

But as the city tries to move forward from the latest death, the struggle was more personal in the blue duplex on Strong Street.

“Now we’re broken,” Costin said. “Who’s going to fix us?”