Crime & Safety

Bridgeport Man Pleads Guilty In Courthouse Shooting: Feds

A Bridgeport man has pleaded guilty to charges connecting him to a courthouse shooting.

BRIDGEPORT, CT — A Bridgeport man pleaded guilty to charges connecting him to a gang-related courthouse shooting in January of last year, according to federal prosecutors. Destine Calderon, 26, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, a crime that carries a maximum prison term of 20 years.

According to prosecutors, Calderon has been a member of the "Greene Homes Boyz" ("GHB/Hotz"), a gang based in the Charles F. Greene Homes Housing Complex in Bridgeport's North End. The gang's members and associates dealt heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana, and Percocet pills, and committed numerous acts of violence against rival gang members and others, according to the statement.

The gang has been aligned with the "Original North End" ("O.N.E."), based in the Trumbull Gardens area of Bridgeport, against rival groups in Bridgeport, including the East End, East Side and PT Barnum gangs, as well as 150, which is a geographic gang based on the West Side of Bridgeport.

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Calderon admitted admitted that he participated in gang-related drug trafficking, according to prosecutors. He also was aware of the planning and present in a vehicle when GHB/Hotz and O.N.E. members attempted to kill members and associates of the East End gang in a brazen afternoon shooting in front of a Bridgeport courthouse Jan. 27, 2020.

Police responded on that day after a Shot Spotter activation detected approximately 20 shots being fired in front of the state courthouse. Four victims had been shot while sitting inside a black Chevrolet

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One victim was shot in the side of his chest and was left paralyzed and a second victim sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his back, shoulder and wrist. The victims’ vehicle had approximately 23 entry bullet holes in the driver’s side and windshield area.

Calderon is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 28.

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