Update: Gunfire Strikes New Haven State Senator's House: 'We're OK'

NEW HAVEN, CT — A spray of bullets struck the Winchester Avenue home of state Sen. Gary Winfred Monday night, police said, but the lawmaker was "not the intended target."

In a Facebook post, Winfield, a Democrat who represents the 10th district, shared that he and his family were unharmed.

"We are ok," he wrote. "A couple of bullet holes in the house, but we are fine."

New Haven Police Department spokesperson Scott Shumway confirmed the incident, and added that Winfield was "not the intended target."

Shumway said that a person was "shot in the street" near the senator's house, and that gunfire struck the home.

The scene of the shooting is two blocks from the police Newhallville substation.

It was around 7 p.m. when police got a Shotspotter alert to gunfire on Winchester Avenue, between Division and Thompson streets, police said. A short time later, cops got a call about a person "shot in the area," the spokesperson said.

When they got to the scene at the corner of Winchester and Division Street, cops found a 33-year-old New Haven man who'd been gunned down "while walking by Winfield’s house," with shots fired from a vehicle, police said.

Taken to Yale New Haven Hospital, he was listed in stable condition, Shumway said. The man was gunned down "while walking by Winfield’s house," Shumway said.

Winfield and his family were “not physically injured,” police said. In a news briefing Tuesday afternoon, police said the victim was found on Winfield's porch, Assistant Chief Karl Jacobson said.

Late Tuesday morning, bullet holes could be seen in a second-floor window. Shumway told Patch that investigators "recovered ballistics from inside the home." He said the bullets "did not penetrate a bedroom." A bullet also was fired into the attached garage, police said.

As yet, police don't have a suspect in the shooting: “At this point, it is believed that the Senator was not the intended target of the shooting,” Shumway said.

New Haven police Major Crimes Unit detectives are leading the investigation. By late afternoon, police said that they have "good video" of the incident, showing the vehicle involved in the drive-by shooting.

"I really appreciate all the concern," Winfield wrote on Facebook. "The younger kids didn’t really know what was happening, so I let them think it was just us playing, so we had to get down low. Will keep monitoring them to see. Otherwise, we are fine."

Police said in the news conference that his children were upstairs in the home at the time of the shooting but not in the bedroom where bullets flew. Jacobson noted that police were concerned for the family and offered services.

Winfield, 48, and his wife Rasheda have four children.

Winfield, a five-term Connecticut state senator, previously served three terms as a state representative, during which the state's death penalty was repealed. As a state senator, he's been "an instrumental leader in helping to reshape conversations surrounding criminal justice, juvenile justice and immigration policy," according to his General Assembly bio.

"In 2015, Senator Winfield wrote and championed legislation aimed at reducing police use of force, including requiring the operation of body cameras and cultural competency training for all officers," it's noted. He also led passage of legislation to raise the age at which juveniles could be tried as adults. He later led passage of two "distinct pieces of legislation to improve community relationships with law enforcement." One prohibits police from firing at a car "unless there is an imminent threat" to police or bystanders. It also requires release of police body-worn camera footage after a deadly use of force accident.