Hamden Girl, 5, Finds Gun Under Her Pillow While Spending Night at Her Father's Home

A New Haven man faces several charges after his 5-year-old daughter, who lives in Hamden, found a gun beneath her pillow when she spent the night at his home.

Shaquan Hayes, 32, was arrested Oct. 6 on charges of criminal possession of a firearm. Hayes, a convicted felon on probation for drug crimes, was additionally charged with several narcotics crimes after detectives found drugs and drug packaging materials mixed in amid children’s toys and clothes in a bedroom, New Haven police spokesman Officer David Hartman said in a press release Tuesday.

Officer Matt Williams responded to a home in Hamden last week to investigate a gun complaint after the mother was told by her daughter about the gun she found under her pillow. The mother told Williams that the girl had been staying the weekend with her father in New Haven, according to Hartman.

She said her daughter waited until Monday to tell her she’d found the handgun beneath her pillow. The mother said she knew Hayes had a handgun and confirmed she’d seen it before, according to Hartman.

Williams went to the Sherman Avenue apartment and arrested Hayes.

Hartman said that Detective Brian McDermott prepared a search and seizure warrant and served it later on at Hayes’ home. Inside the apartment, detectives found a loaded Colt “Detective Special” .38 caliber revolver in a bedroom and the drugs and drug packaging materials were found mixed in amid children’s toys and clothes.

Hartman said that Hayes has a criminal history that includes multiple entries for risk of injury to a child, multiple entries for probation violations, escape from custody and drug crimes.