Guns, Ammunition Seized In Early Morning Raid: Stamford Police

STAMFORD, CT — Police said they arrested a 27-year-old Stamford man and seized two guns, ammunition and drugs in an early morning raid Thursday at an apartment on Perry Street.

Police will investigate further to see if the man and the seized weapons are tied to two shootings that occurred nearby on March 14, according to Capt. Richard Conklin of the Stamford Police Department.

John Spencer was arrested around 5:40 a.m. Thursday after officers from the Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit, Special Response Team and patrol units executed a search warrant at his apartment, Conklin said.

Spencer, who has an extensive criminal record according to police, was charged with two counts of criminal possession of a firearm; altering the serial number on a firearm; criminal possession of ammunition; possession of a high capacity magazine; violation of a protective order and possession of narcotics. Conklin said officers found about 2.5 grams of crack cocaine.

Spencer's apartment is near where two shootings took place on the same day on March 14, said Conklin, adding that the seized weapons — a 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and a .22 caliber revolver — will be forensically examined.

"The evidence we seized in this raid this morning will be compared to the evidence seized at those shootings to see if there is, in fact, a connection," Conklin said. Several 9 mm shell casings were found at one of the shooting scenes, he added.

A 72-year-old man suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the shoulder around 3 p.m. on March 14 at the intersection of Richmond Hill Avenue and Anne Street, police said in a news release Tuesday.

Police said preliminary information showed the shooting occurred between two vehicles as they passed through the intersection.

The man was not the intended target, police said. He was was treated at Stamford Hospital.

The second shooting occurred several hours later around 7:45 p.m.

Investigators at the first scene heard gunshots and located a 26-year-old victim nearby, who was shot in the face but still conscious, police said.

Police said the victim was shot on Rose Park Avenue near the intersection of West Main Street, and ran away from the area where he was then found by responding officers.

Police said the shootings could be connected to each other.

"We're actively working on these cases and other cases, and we hope to make additional arrests," Conklin said.

There now have been three shootings in Stamford in the past week.

On the evening of March 10, shots were fired in the area of Custer Street, causing glass shards, plaster and bullet fragments to almost hit two children, police said. No injuries were reported.

Conklin said the recent activity is troubling.

"It's certainly concerning to us at the Stamford Police Department, and in speaking to many in the community, it's certainly concerns them," he said. "It's something [Police] Chief [Timothy Shaw] has asked us to spare no resources on. We're actively investigating."

Anyone with information on the shootings is asked to call the SPD's Major Crimes Unit at 203-977-4417.

Residents can also contact the Major Crimes Unit by sending an anonymous text tip via their cell phone by texting keyword STAMFORDPD and their message/tip to 847411.