Sept. 25--NEW HAVEN -- The mother of a man shot and killed in Fair Haven last year had a simple message Monday.
"My whole family will always love my son and will always be there and miss him," said Lois Engelhardt, whose son Edward Andrew "Fast Eddie" Thompson, 37, was killed last year in Fair Haven.
Larry Johnson, 33, of New Haven, a felon in jail on unrelated charges, was arrested on a warrant for murder in Thompson's 2011 killing.
Johnson has not yet been arraigned and police did not release a motive in the killing, but stated Monday that Thompson was not the intended target.
Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso lauded Detectives Bertram Ettienne and other investigators for continuing to pursue new leads even as months went by. That should deliver a message to other suspects of violent crimes, he said.
"We're coming after you. We're coming after you and we're going to get you," said Generoso.
Ettienne knows the pain of the family. His 27-year-old sister, a mother of two, was killed by a stray bullet in Hartford last year.
He said solving the case was a matter of following up on leads.
One door opens another door, he said.
"You never get to bring the person back but at least the family gets to know police did their part to bring that person to justice," Ettienne said.
Telling a family that a loved one has been killed "is hard coming from personal experience," he said.
Telling them that the alleged killer has been apprehended, he said, brings a level of comfort for the detective as well.
Copyright 2012 - New Haven Register, Conn.
