Mayor Releases Statement On 'Unacceptable Violence' In New London

NEW LONDON, CT - Mayor Michael Passero released a statement Monday regarding two fatal incidents that occurred over the weekend. On Saturday, police said a young man was shot and killed on Orchard Street in New London.

A day later, police said a man was fatally stabbed to death on Tilley Street late Sunday.

"Our city experienced unacceptable violence in unrelated incidents this past weekend that resulted in the deaths of two people," Passero said in a statement. "These two most recent deaths follow a similar violent death just a few weeks ago at a Blackhall Street residence. As a community, we deeply regret the loss of life and express our condolences to the families and friends of the victims."

See also: Arrest Made In Fatal Stabbing Case: New London PD

• Police Want To Interview This Man In Connection To Fatal Shooting

Passero also highlighted the city's safety in spite of these recent successive acts of violence.

"Thankfully, in each of these tragic incidents, the general public was never at risk," Passero said. "Our city is safe and the New London Police Department has done a remarkable job investigating and swiftly resolving these crimes. Moreover, beyond merely reacting to violence of this sort when it happens, city staff has been proactively engaged in developing methods to prevent this type of violence."

Passero said in his statement city officials have assembled an interagency, multijurisdictional initiative to identify the underlying social factors that lead to incidences of violence like the incidents this past weekend.

"This effort engages our police, fire prevention, health, human services and building departments in a collaborative effort that will identify causes and formulate methods and policies to mitigate conditions that lead to this type of violence," Passero said. "This string of recent tragedies is, of course, discouraging to our efforts. The goal of our task force in the coming weeks will be to completely deconstruct the circumstances that led to these two latest violent confrontations and to redouble our efforts to identify measures that could help to prevent future violence of this nature. The city administration is committed to stemming violence of this type in our community and continuing our overall quality of life campaign."

Image via Shutterstock