13 Shot at Bridgeport House Party, 5 Remain Hospitalized: Update

BRIDGEPORT, CT — Police continue to investigate after 13 people were shot early Sunday at a large party on Plymouth Street.

The party hosts applied for a permit to sell alcohol prior to the party but were turned down because it would violate city ordinances, according to the Connecticut Post. The party went on anyway, and more than 100 people attended.

Five victims remain hospitalized, according to the Post.

Police Chief Armando Perez wants the two suspects to be federally charged. He said shootings in the city are happening at parties because juries in trials of suspects are being intimidated.

The shooting was an apparent ambush.

Police responded to 19 Plymouth St. shortly before 1:30 a.m., said Capt. Brian Fitzgerald.

Eleven males and two females were shot. Eleven of the victims sustained non-life threatening gunshot wounds to the lower extremities.

A female is in critical condition after being shot in the face. A man also sustained a gunshot wound to the face, but the injury is non-life threatening.

"Evidence suggests that there were at least two shooters who fired through the hedges from the backyard 31/33 Plymouth Street and struck the victims who were all in the rear of 19 Plymouth Street attending a large house party," Fitzgerald said.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, called for more gun control.

"The victims in Bridgeport are among tens of thousands shooting casualties every year," he said. "No one is immune to this public health crisis as it rips apart communities near and far.”

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy thanked Bridgeport first responders for their efforts.

"I'm simply unable to contemplate the evil behind such contempt for human life," he said. "I'm overwhelmingly grateful that surprisingly no lives were lost... I stand with the people of Bridgeport and local law enforcement as they investigate this attempted mass murder and bring the perpetrators to justice.”