by Thomas Breen The New Haven independent
Video surveillance footage, cellphone records, witness interviews, a pistol permit photograph, and a tobacco purchase at the Sam’s Mart on Whalley led police to identify the man they believe murdered two men during a late-August Monday afternoon fight on Dickerman Street.
Those details and many more are included in a 13-page arrest warrant affidavit written by Det. Joseph Galvan on Sept. 4. The Independent obtained a copy of the warrant on Tuesday.
The warrant describes why police have arrested 39-year-old New Havener Sergio Thomas on two counts of murder for the Aug. 25 double homicide of Daiquan Hyman, a 26-year-old from East Haven, and Ernest Williams, a 32-year-old from New Haven.
Thomas has not yet entered pleas to those charges, and is currently being held on a $3 million bond.
During an interview with the Independent following Thomas’ Sept. 5 arrest, the suspect’s attorney said that the fatal shooting took place as his client stepped in to defend his own brother. The attorney also said he plans to contest Thomas’ $3 million bond during his client’s next court hearing, on Sept. 29.
According to Galvan’s arrest warrant affidavit, at around 2:11 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 25, police responded to a ShotSpotter activation of seven gunshots fired in the area of 72 Dickerman St. A second ShotSpotter activation of four gunshots came in “a few seconds later.”
City police dispatch then began to receive “several” 911 calls reporting two males shot in the area of 77 Dickerman. Additional 911 callers reported men running away from the scene.
When city police officers arrived, they found two men — later identified as Hyman and Williams — suffering from what appeared to be gunshot wounds and located “on the street approximately thirty feet from each other.”
Both were transported by ambulance to Yale New Haven Hospital, where both later died from their injuries.
Officers secured a crime scene in the area of 77 Dickerman and found 9mm fired cartridge casings near where Hyman and Williams were located.
Police later obtained video footage taken by a camera at a residence on Dickerman. That video, timestamped at 2:10 p.m. on Aug. 25, showed a man walking east on Dickerman in the middle of the road. That man — later identified as Sergio Thomas’ brother — is then followed by three other men, including Hyman and Williams.
In the audio captured as part of that video, one can hear the four men arguing.
The four men then exit the view of the camera — even as they can still be heard arguing.
A few seconds later, a woman can be heard yelling. Then, “a few moments later, several gun shots are heard.”
One man enters back into camera view, running west on Dickerman.
“The gunfire continues” and then Hyman can be seen stumbling and crawling back into view, as followed by still another man who appears to be holding a gun.
That suspect — later identified as Sergio Thomas, the man arrested and charged with two counts of murder — can be seen “firing four shots in the direction of Hyman,” who collapses in the middle of the road.
Thomas’ brother then comes back into camera view. He can be heard saying to the suspect, “Let’s get the fuck out of here, cmon!”
Police didn’t find Thomas or his brother in the area of the crime scene right after the shooting.
Witness interviews later led police to believe that Hyman, Williams, and several others were at the McDonald’s on Whalley when Hyman got into a dispute with Thomas’ brother. Hyman and Thomas’ brother reportedly agreed to fight each other on Dickerman Street. The fight was reportedly about Thomas’ brother being in a relationship with Hyman’s sister.
As police canvassed the area, they wound up obtaining video surveillance footage from the nearby Sam’s Mart on Whalley. That footage showed that, at around 1:23 p.m. — less than an hour before the double homicide — the same man later seen firing a gun at Hyman purchased “tobacco” and “drinks” with a credit or debit card. Police wound up figuring out that that the account holder for that M&T Bank card was Sergio Thomas.
Another city detective, Matt Stevens, later determined that Sergio Thomas had an active state pistol permit, as well as two legally registered 9mm handguns. The address listed on the pistol permit was an apartment on Dickerman Street, and the photograph of Thomas on the pistol permit appeared to be “identical” to the video and still images of Hyman’s shooter.
Police also later learned that Sergio Thomas works as a security guard in Stamford, and that he had unexpectedly called out of work from Aug. 26 through Aug. 28. And, after getting a search warrant signed by a judge, officers found at Thomas’ Dickerman Street apartment clothing consistent with the clothing worn by Thomas on the day of the double homicide. They also seized a gun with the name “Sergio Thomas” on it.
Finally, police obtained call detail records from Thomas’ phone which put him in the area of Sam’s Mart between 1:18 p.m. and 1:25 p.m. that day, and in the area of Dickerman Street at around 2:10 p.m.
Galvan concluded that there is probable cause that Thomas committed two counts of murder.