Dylan Haviland – Managing Editor
It was a warm spring afternoon on campus three days after the recent shooting outside Slyce Pizza Bar. Damian Barnes, a senior exercise science major and resident advisor, was swiping in students at the desk of Wilkinson Hall as he recalled the incident as unsurprising.
“I have friends that they seem to be like freaking out about it,” said Barnes. “And I kind of just have a whatever attitude cause it just happens a lot”.
Barnes, along with the student body of Southern, received an email from Patrick Dilger, director of Public Affairs, about gunshots earlier that morning that allegedly resulted in a man being taken to the hospital at 2:20 a.m. It was stated that no Southern students had a part in the incident, and they were told not to go to the area while Hamden police were investigating.
This marks another violent incident within the area of the bar at 141 Arch St., Hamden.
“It’s pretty disturbing,” said Allison Serna, a junior psychology major, as she recalled the email. “I wasn’t that shocked though, which is like kind of weird but definitely disturbing”.
A press release by the Hamden Police Department on Sunday afternoon stated that there were two victims found. One was spotted shortly after the incident. The second victim was allegedly shot inside his vehicle after leaving the bar and sustained a non-life threatening gunshot wound to the upper back.
Additional instances of shootings include an email sent by Dilger on Sept. 7, 2014 citing a non-fatal shooting of a car, that contained passengers who were not harmed, in the parking lot of Slyce also in the early in the morning around 1:30 a.m. Another email on Sept. 13, 2013, this time from Chief Joseph M. Dooley of university police, described gunfire that happened before the school year in the surrounding area of Slyce in August, this also had no injuries.
“We generally don’t see a lot of our students that are going there, I’m not aware if there is a student base that goes to that restaurant but still we have concern,” said Dooley. “We’ve worked in conjunction with Hamden, including liquor control, to express our concerns primarily our midnight shift which keeps an eye on it as they did that night and we are very much a part of reporting to Hamden what was going on so. It’s on the edge of campus so it’s something we have to keep an eye on, it’s just there’s been too many incidents there and it raises concerns.”
According to a New Haven Register article on April 10, “Latest Violence at Hamden pizza bar renews calls for closure, loss of license” by Kate Ramunni, a petition of over 230 names were gathered during the fall to stop Slyce’s liquor license renewal.
President Joe Bertolino expressed the university’s involvement in the non-renewal of the liquor license and stressed the importance of safety for students.
“The advantage to a place like Southern is that we have our own police force, that isn’t the case for all campuses they may have some type of security or public safety but we have an armed police force on our side and I do think that because of those individuals, our trained police officers, and have that skill set that does provide for a safe community here,” said Bertolino.
Barnes, whose job as a resident advisor incorporates students both new and experienced, also credited the measures of residence halls which require signing in of students and guests as a proper safety protocol.
“With the policies that we have in our res halls and the fact that you only can come in really if you have your ID, I feel like that makes it safe and a lot of the problems tend to not happen in the residence halls”, said Barnes.
Currently no additional press releases from the Hamden Police have been sent regarding new information on the investigation.
The owner of Slyce, Fazley Rabbi, was not able to be contacted for the story.
Photo Credit: Dylan Haviland – Managing Editor
Southern is located just outside of the Newhallville neighborhood in New Haven either way with many shootings just a few blocks further down the street. This is only an issue because it’s not something Hamden wants to deal with, as they probably never wanted the bar in the first place. The owner can’t do anything about what happens outside the bar. Hamden police sit at that intersection in the graveyard all the time but can’t have someone out there on weekends to easily pull up and catch the person? Seems funny to me.