On the evening of February 3, 2012, 20-year-old Joseph Bate, a White male also known as Joseph Bateman and nicknamed Jabs, was found shot on a paved river walkway beside the AvalonBay Community apartments on Belden Avenue in Norwalk, Connecticut. Multiple calls about gunfire brought police to the scene at 5:41 p.m.; officers began CPR after cutting away his clothing, and Bate was taken to Norwalk Hospital where he was pronounced dead. The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner later ruled the death a homicide from a gunshot wound to the chest.

Investigators looked into possible links between Bate and earlier violence in the city. Bate was a close friend of A.J. Brown, who had been killed in a shootout in August 2010; Bate had been a witness to that killing and reportedly returned fire, so detectives considered retaliation as a possible motive. The case went cold for more than five years before a break in September 2017, when 22-year-old Hakeem Atkinson of Bridgeport was charged with Bate’s murder and turned himself in. The arraignment was held with heavy security; bond was set at $1 million and the matter was moved to Stamford for prosecution.

Does anyone have information about Bate’s activities in Norwalk around February 2012 or about associates who might help clarify what happened that evening?