A New Haven man was gunned down on a street corner in March 2023, and it took investigators more than two years to arrest the suspects — two young men who have been walking free in the community the entire time.
That's the reality of delayed justice. Ramon Yates, 25, was shot near Dixwell Avenue and West Hazel Street just after 6:30 p.m. on March 15, 2023, according to the Hartford Courant. He lingered for two days at Yale New Haven Hospital before dying of his injuries. His obituary remembered him as quiet, witty, a basketball champion who loved video games and his family. Meanwhile, the people who allegedly killed him remained on the street.
New Haven police finally took Talin Jackson, 20, and Devin Gardner, 19, into custody on July 11. Each was charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and carrying a pistol without a permit. Bond was set at $2 million apiece. The Hartford Courant reported that Detective Michael Haines of the Major Crimes Unit developed probable cause during the investigation — a process that consumed over 27 months while the suspects lived in the same city as the victim's family.
The Courant's reporting is straightforward but tells you everything you need to know about where accountability stands: a man dead, suspects free for years, and a brief paragraph about a detective finally developing probable cause. No explanation for the delay. No scrutiny of what took so long.
The pattern repeats across the region. In New Jersey, NJ.com reported that Jerod L. Jones, 32, was just arrested in Philadelphia for a September 2025 murder in Asbury Park. Jones allegedly shot Tyshan Small and another man near the Vita Gardens Apartments last September. Small died. Jones was indicted — then apparently left the state. It took until this month to track him down in Pennsylvania. He's now held at the Monmouth County jail awaiting a Friday court appearance. His attorney declined to comment.
Two cases, two dead men, two long waits for basic accountability. In New Haven, suspects lived freely for over two years in the same community where the shooting happened. In Asbury Park, an indicted murder suspect made it across state lines before authorities caught up. The families of Ramon Yates and Tyshan Small waited months and years for what should have been immediate action.
The question nobody in authority will answer: why does it take years to arrest a murder suspect in Connecticut? What were these two men doing for 27 months while Ramon Yates' family buried him and waited?
