Man facing gun and drug charges fatally shot outside Connecticut courthouse. Lawyer calls it a ‘hit’

WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) — Police on Friday identified a person who was fatally shot outside a Connecticut courthouse as a 26-year-old man who was facing gun and drug charges, and his lawyer called the killing a “hit.”

Jarron Chapman was leaving Waterbury Superior Court late Thursday morning when he was shot in front of family members by someone who fled on a motorcycle, authorities and his lawyer said.

Chapman, a resident of Waterbury, had just appeared in court, where he had three pending cases that included charges of illegal gun possession, operation of a drug factory, misdemeanor assault and other alleged crimes, according to court records. His criminal record also included gun and drug convictions.

“This guy didn’t miss, this guy was waiting for him,” Chapman’s lawyer, Ioannis Kaloidis, said of the shooter. “This is definitely a hit.”

But Kaloidis added that he did not think the shooting was related to any of Chapman’s court cases, which his client had been fighting.

Police said they were looking for the shooter. Court officials declined to comment.

In 2018, Kaloidis said, another client was shot in the leg outside the same courthouse and survived.

Chapman was a basketball standout at high schools in Waterbury and Naugatuck, the Waterbury Republican-American reported. He later played for Monroe Community College in New Rochelle, New York, and was named most outstanding player in a regional junior college tournament won by his team.

In one of Chapman’s pending criminal cases, Waterbury police alleged that he and another man were found in possession of a ghost gun, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and drugs including cocaine and heroin. Chapman had pleaded not guilty.