Elijah Gomez was 15 when he was fatally shot on the afternoon of May 9, 2022, while walking home from Hamden High School in Hamden, Connecticut. He was on the Farmington Canal trail near Treadwell Street when a witness reported hearing five gunshots and then saw three individuals fleeing. Elijah was found in a nearby driveway and pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds.

Investigators concluded Elijah had been targeted. Surveillance footage captured three males following him and one of them, later identified as 18-year-old Jenigh Ward, approaching and shooting Elijah multiple times. Ballistic evidence recovered in Ward’s bedroom matched shell casings from the scene, and surveillance tied Ward’s vehicle and clothing to the incident. Ward was arrested on June 6, 2022, and charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and carrying a pistol without a permit; he was held on $1 million bond.

Elijah was a freshman and a devoted football player, remembered as polite and gentle by his family and school. Police say the investigation remains active as they seek the two others seen with Ward that day. If anyone has information about those individuals or the shooting, please come forward.