Police have not yet determined whether the bullets that struck former Bridgeport, Connecticut, mayoral candidate John Gomes’s car and apartment on Aug. 15 were intended for a specific individual.
Gomes was asleep during the early hours of Aug. 15 when a bullet pierced the wall of his apartment. After being awakened by police officers at around 3:30 a.m., he discovered that his car’s windshield and passenger windows were also hit by bullets.
“It signals both a warning and a threat,” Gomes told The Epoch Times. “The bullet shot through the side wall of my apartment. It came through the hallway and stayed outside my bedroom wall.”
Police officers were alerted to the shooting in the Park Avenue area of Bridgeport by the city’s gunshot detection system, known as ShotSpotter, at 3:05 a.m., according to Capt. Kevin Gilleran of the Bridgeport Police Department (BPD).
The ShotSpotter system indicated that ten rounds were fired.
“The BPD never stated this was a targeted act,” BPD’s director of public information, Tiadora Josef, told The Epoch Times in an email. “This is an area that has a high rate of crime.”
BPD’s detective bureau is currently investigating.
Gomes said that only his property was hit during the incident and that he had previously received multiple threats on social media.
“No other vehicle nor building was shot,” Gomes said. “Because of this, it leaves me to question if it was a random act of violence or targeted. Hopefully, we'll have some answers based on when the police look at the street surveillance video.”
Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim’s spokesperson, Rowena White, said that the incident is as much concerning as any form of violence in the city.
“The safety of all residents in our communities is a priority,” White told The Epoch Times in an email. “The Mayor has not been briefed by the police department with any conclusive information about possible motives or persons of interest. This incident is currently under investigation, and the Mayor supports all efforts being made by the Bridgeport Police Department to resolve the matter.”
Gomes lost to Ganim in a court-ordered election in February. It was Bridgeport’s fourth election since Connecticut Superior Court Judge William Clark overturned the Democratic Party primary on Sept. 12, 2023—in which Gomes lost by 251 votes—based on allegations of fraud.
The Bridgeport mayoral primary and election remains under investigation by the Connecticut State Elections Enforcement Commission.
