Joshua Vazquez was a 16-year-old student at Metropolitan Business Academy and an active volunteer in the Resident Services Youth Volunteer Program. Neighbors and family remembered the Hispanic teenager from New Haven’s West Hills as kind, funny and protective of younger children who often helped distribute food and assisted others in the community.

On the afternoon of December 19, 2022, Joshua was riding his bicycle on Valley Street near his home when a black SUV approached. After an altercation, someone inside the vehicle opened fire. He was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital and later died; the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide.

Investigators examined surveillance footage, license plate reader data and cellular records while pursuing leads in a dispute that police said dated back to 2017. Who knew Joshua or saw him on Valley Street that afternoon and can help fill in the events leading up to the shooting?