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02/20/2018 03:39 PMNow, a few weeks after the shooting that claimed the life of 15-year-old Guilford High School student Ethan Song, little more is known about the details of how events unfolded on Jan. 31.
While Guilford Police continue to investigate, Police Chief Jeff Hutchinson announced recently that the case has been transferred to the judicial district of Waterbury and “any potential criminal charges would be prosecuted through Waterbury.”
The case is now under Waterbury State’s Attorney Maureen Platt. Guilford normally falls under the New Haven Judicial District, which includes the towns of Branford, North Branford, Guilford, Madison, East Haven, and North Haven among others. Platt and police officials did not respond to questions as to why this case has been transferred out of its normal judicial district.
In a statement released to this paper, Platt said, “This case has recently been assigned to this office for investigation. There is still a substantial amount of work to be done. I would urge anyone with information on this matter to reach out to the Guilford Police Department. As with any pending investigation, there will be no further comment at this time.”
While there is little new information, at the Board of Finance (BOF) meeting on Feb. 15, BOF members along with members of the Board of Education (BOE) and Board of Selectman (BOS) reflected on the tragic incident and the community response in the days and weeks that followed.
BOE Chair Bill Bloss thanked town officials, Youth & Family Services, the police and fire departments, and the wider community for supporting the schools.
“This has been a difficult couple of weeks for everybody in town, not the least of whom are people who are involved in public education and also obviously people involved in the public safety aspect of town service,” he said. “I think that what happened here, the way this community pulled together, the way our public schools staff, teachers, students, and parents pulled together in the face of a very tragic and difficult situation—I think really revealed what is best about this town. This is something we hoped never would happen here but did, and the way that the school staff, students, faculty, and administration responded to it was exemplary and it was the best we could have hoped for.”
BOF Chair Mike Ayles asked for a moment of silence for Song and for the 17 people killed in a shooting at a Florida High School on Feb. 14. First Selectman Matt Hoey complimented Guilford first responders on how they handled the shooting.
“I am proud to say we have the finest police and fire services that one could expect to have,” he said. “There’s no clearer evidence of that than the tragic death of one of the young members of our community. We have received nothing but the highest compliments about the performance of our police and our fire and EMS services. Youth & Family services, Parks & Recreation, engineering, and the town property management team, everyone pulled together during a time of crisis and just showed what kind of community Guilford is.”