A double shooting in New Haven’s Beaver Hills neighborhood on the morning of April 1, 2023, left two men dead. Around 7:55 a.m., police responded to multiple 911 calls and a ShotSpotter alert registering nine rounds near Winthrop Avenue and Goffe Terrace. Officers found two men shot inside a parked Acura MDX; passenger Jonathan Garcia, a 27-year-old Hispanic man from New Haven, was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital and pronounced dead, while the driver, 40-year-old Marquis Darnell McNeil, was found deceased at the scene.

Police encountered 39-year-old Cadell Harris at the scene; he was on special parole for a 2017 firearm offense and was initially arrested for interfering with officers after being uncooperative and belligerent. Detectives later identified Harris as the primary suspect, saying the murder weapon was found near the vehicle and that surveillance footage showed Harris exiting the rear of the Acura immediately after shots were fired. An arrest warrant charging Harris with two counts of murder, criminal possession of a firearm, and carrying a pistol without a permit was issued in July 2023.

Jonathan Garcia’s mother, Jessica Alvarez, publicly described the notification of her son’s death as the worst phone call any mother can receive and asked why someone considered a friend would be killed. If anyone knew Jonathan or has information about the shooting, please come forward.