NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Authorities unsealed an indictment in New Haven on Monday, charging six alleged members and associates of the Exit 8 street gang in the city.
“Do not think you can engage in gun violence or gang activity and not be detected,” U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery said. “If you’re engaging in such violence, we will find you and bring you to justice.”
Avery made the announcement alongside representatives from the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office, ATF, FBI, DEA and New Haven Police Department.
A federal grand jury in Bridgeport returned an indictment, charging 22-year-old Jaedyn Rivera, 20-year-old Tyjon Preston, 24-year-old Samuel Douglas, 19-year-old Quaymar Suggs, 25-year-old Kiveon Hyman, and 24-year-old Donell Allick Jr.
The indictment charges them with conspiring to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity, including drug trafficking, murder, attempted murder and other related offenses.
Suggs is accused of shooting and killing a rival gang member in May 2021. Allick is accused of shooting and killing a person in September 2022.
“Members of the Exit 8 gang are extremely dangerous individuals who show very little regard for the community at large,” said David Lanzoni, the DEA assistant special agent in charge. “They are a menace that threatens the safety and security of New Haven and beyond.”
The name Exit 8 stems from the exit used to get off Interstate 91 into New Haven.
New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson said the department tries to intervene by identifying who could be involved in violence before something happens.
“Then, we’d call them into what’s considered a call-in, and we say we want them safe, alive and out of jail,” Jacobson said.
He said he’s worked with Allick over the years, including talking to his family.
“I’ve done everything possible to keep him out of violent crime,” Jacobson said.
He points to programs and resources such as Project Longevity as ways to help people on a better path.