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A mother and baby were shot dead inside a car in Connecticut. A suspect has been arrested over 1,600 miles away.
A suspect in the fatal shooting of a woman and her 4-month-old son inside a car in Hartford, Connecticut, was arrested Saturday in Puerto Rico, officials said.
The U.S. Marshals Service said they found Lance “Macho” Morales at a residence in the barrio of Fajardo. Police believe the 23-year-old Waterbury, Connecticut, resident pulled up alongside a car Tuesday and began firing because of a dispute over a vehicle with a woman in the car, Jessiah Mercado.
Mercado, 20, and her infant son were killed. A man in the car was shot and injured.
Morales was being held on a $3 million bond as he awaited extradition to Connecticut. An arrest warrant issued in Connecticut this week charged Morales with two counts of murder and other charges, according to Hartford police and federal marshals.
Hartford Police
It was not immediately clear if Morales had an attorney. Emails seeking attorney information were sent to the Marshals Service and to Hartford police.
Police have said detectives were able to identify Morales through video they found of the crime scene and information from the public. Acting Hartford Police Chief Kenny Howell on Wednesday urged Morales to turn himself in during a televised news conference.
Morales was released this year from prison after serving three years for attempted assault, police said.
“Since the commission of this senseless and heinous act of violence, investigators from the Hartford Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service Violent Fugitive Task Forces in Connecticut and Puerto Rico have tirelessly worked around the clock to bring the suspect to justice,” acting U.S. Marshal for the District of Connecticut Lawrence Bobnick said in a news release.
Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam credited the work of law enforcement for bringing Morales to justice, CBS affiliate WSFB-TV reported.
“In four days, they found him, tracked him down and arrested him. It sends a message that if you commit a heinous act here in our city, we’re going to find you no matter where you go,” said Arulampalam.
Mothers United Against Violence and the victims’ family planned to host a vigil on Tuesday, WSFB reported.
A GoFundMe launched on behalf of Mercado has raised over $3,600.
Amazon workers in more than 20 countries including the U.S. plan to strike and hold protests between Black Friday, November 29, and Cyber Monday, which falls on December 2, according to the activists organizing the labor action.
The protests, organized by UNI Global Union, a Switzerland-based labor group, and grassroots political organization Progressive International, will take place in cities in the U.S., Brazil, Germany, Japan and the U.K., the groups said in a statement. Thousands of workers in Germany will strike in cities including Koblenz and Leipzig.
The groups are targeting one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, when consumers typically open their wallets to buy holiday gifts, aiming to raise awareness of what they describe as Amazon’s “anti-worker and anti-democratic practices.”
In recent years, workers at some Amazon warehouses in the U.S. have pushed to unionize although with mixed results. In 2022, an Amazon facility in New York City’s Staten Island became the first — and so far the only — company warehouse to vote to form a union. Other efforts to organize have failed, including at Amazon facilities in Alabama in 2021 and New York in 2022.
“Amazon’s relentless pursuit of profit comes at a cost to workers, the environment and democracy,” said Christy Hoffman, general secretary of UNI Global Union, in a statement.
Referring to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, she added, “Bezos’s company has spent untold millions to stop workers from organizing, but the strikes and protests happening around the world show that workers’ desire for justice — for union representation — can’t be stopped.”
Amazon defended its treatment of workers.
“These groups represent a variety of interests, and while we’re always listening and looking at ways to improve, we remain proud of the competitive pay, comprehensive benefits, and engaging, safe work experience we provide our teams,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a statement.
It’s the fifth year that the groups have organized protests and strikes targeting Amazon on Black Friday. Previous years have featured Amazon workers marching outside Bezos’ penthouse in the New York City’s Flatiron district.
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