Two Killed In Judson Avenue Shooting

by Thomas Breen

Looking east on Judson Avenue from Mead Street on Wednesday morning.

(Updated) New Haven saw its second double homicide of the summer Tuesday night — after someone shot and killed a 19-year-old New Havener and a 25-year-old West Havener on Judson Avenue in the West River neighborhood.

The New Haven Police Department (NHPD) announced those shooting deaths in a series of X social media posts on Tuesday night, as well as in an email press release on Wednesday afternoon and a follow-up press conference at 1 Union Ave.

The victims of Tuesday night’s fatal shootings were 19-year-old Chavis Goldson of New Haven and 25-year-old Lorenzo Foreman of West Haven.

Wednesday’s email press release states that police responded to the 50 block of Judson Avenue at 8:17 p.m. Tuesday on the report of several people shot.

”On arrival, officers located two male victims inside a black Honda sedan suffering from gunshot wounds.” Those victims were later identified as Goldson and Foreman.

They were both transported to Yale New Haven Hospital, where they were pronounced dead. “It appears they were targeted shortly after they arrived on Judson Avenue.”

The press release also states that, “at a nearby residence on Judson Avenue, a stray bullet struck the 2nd floor siding and traveled through a bedroom wall which was occupied by two females; one juvenile was initially believed to have been struck. She was transported to the pediatric department of YNHH where it was determined her injuries were caused by debris and plaster from the wall which grazed her head. Her injuries were not life-threatening.”

“It does look like this was an isolated incident,” Police Chief David Zannelli told the Independent on Wednesday morning. He said the “attackers” and the victims appear to have known one another.

Zannelli noted that the 13-year-old who was struck by plaster from a wall that had been hit by gunfire was otherwise physically uninjured. He also acknowledged how “traumatizing” this was for her and everyone on the block. He said that “dozens” of people were outside or in transit on the residential block at the time of the shooting, and he encouraged anyone with any information to come forward to the police.

At Wednesday afternoon’s press conference at police headquarters, Asst. Police Chief Manmeet Bhagtana said that the injured 13-year-old is no longer in the hospital.

“We are still out there canvassing the neighborhood and have collected a large amount of evidence,” she said about the scene of the double homicide.

She said police are not yet sure how many shots were fired or how many guns were involved. “The scene was pretty large and extensive,” she said. She stressed that “it seems that the parties knew each other.”

Bhagtana said that the police department is using License Plate Reader (LPR) cameras, Milestone surveillance cameras, and neighborhood canvasses to gather information on what happened.

“We know that the neighborhood was pretty full with people,” Zannelli said at Wednesday’s presser.

Police ask that anyone who may have witnessed this incident or who may have information valuable to investigators to call detectives at 203-946-6304 or through the department’s anonymous tip-line at 866-888-TIPS (8477).

Tuesday’s shooting deaths mark the city’s fourth and fifth homicides of the year so far.

The fatal shootings come less than a week after someone shot and killed a 33-year-old man named Josiah Baptiste on Edgewood Avenue near Pendleton Street on Wednesday, July 29.

They also took place almost a month and a half after the double homicide of 18-year-old Malaki Caraballo and 21-year-old Jayden Martinez at the Fort Hale Gardens condo complex in the East Shore on June 22.

Crime stats presented by police on Wednesday afternoon show that there have been five homicides, nine nonfatal shootings, and 51 confirmed shots fired so far this year. That compares to eight homicides, 22 nonfatal shootings, and 61 confirmed shots fired at this point in 2025; eight homicides, 52 nonfatal shootings, and 96 confirmed shots fired at this point in 2024; and 14 homicides, 41 nonfatal shootings, and 166 confirmed shots fired at this point in 2023.

“We can talk about gun violence being down this year, which it is, but there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Zannelli said on Wednesday afternoon. “Things like this are a sobering reminder that we still have work to do.”

Mayor Justin Elicker said that he was on the phone with the mom of one of the victims this morning, and that he spent last night at the hospital with the family of another one of the victims. “We make a lot of progress, but then we lose some folks from our community that had their whole life ahead of them,” Elicker said. “It’s clear we have more work to do.”

An earlier version of this article was published at 9:12 a.m.

At the scene of the fatal shooting on Judson. Credit: Thomas Breen photos