Two charged in fatal shootings

Men killed outside Oakdale Theatre

WALLINGFORD — Two men have been arrested in connection with the killing of two people outside the Oakdale Theatre on Dec. 30, 2016, according to police.

Kyle Hampton, 23 of Half Mile Road, North Haven, and Tivon Edwards, 33, of Suffield Street, New Haven, both are charged with two counts of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit. Hampton also is charged with tampering with physical evidence while Edwards is charged with criminal possession of a firearm.

Hampton’s bail was set at $1 million and he is scheduled to appear in court July 31, according to online judicial records. Edwards had been scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

Travis Ward, 31, and Jaquan Graves, 20, both of New Haven, were killed in the shooting in the parking lot of the Oakdale Theatre. Two other people were hospitalized.

The hip-hop artist Meek Mill performed at the Oakdale that night and was in the parking lot leaving around 11:15 p.m. when the shooting broke out, according to previous media reports. An Oakdale employee made the call to police, which prompted a response not only from Wallingford emergency officials, but also ones from Cheshire, North Haven and North Branford.

Tomeka Graves, Jaquan

Graves’ mother, said there was

never really a sense of closure until now.

When Graves found out her son had died, “it was [like] a piece of my soul was ripped out and fell to the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t do anything else but scream and cry out, ‘Why?’”

Then, after learning

police didn’t have immediate answers for her or her family, it became doubly heartbreaking, she said.

“When I found out that the detectives didn't know anything and there was not enough security or nobody seen or heard anything and if they did they wouldn't come forward, I just got really angry and frustrated,” she said.

But now, while nothing

can replace seeing her son’s “big, bright smile” or “his sense of humor,” she said knowing that the people allegedly responsible for his death are in custody lets her finally be able to move on.

“Now my son can finally rest in peace,” she said.

Wallingford Mayor William Dickinson Jr. said he is pleased that the department’s “patience and professionalism” has yielded

arrests.

“Even though this is not something that happens all the time in Wallingford, I would hope these arrests would provide some peace of mind to those who might have been concerned about this incident,” Dickinson said.

Judicial records show three separate lawsuits have been filed by family members of Ward and Graves along with Nathan

Mitchell and Dylan Thomas, the two men who were hospitalized with non-lifethreatening wounds from the same incident.

Two of the lawsuits initially named Oakdale Theatre as a defendant, but the performance venue has since been removed as a responsible party. The third lawsuit still lists Oakdale Theatre as a defendant. All three lawsuits also list Robert Williams, also known as rapper Meek Mill, as a defendant, according to judicial records.

The New Haven Police Department Intelligence Unit, the New Haven ATF and the Connecticut State Police assisted in the investigation, Wallingford police said.

Edwards

Hampton