A Waterbury police detective is recovering after he was shot in the upper thigh while investigating attempted carjackings in Waterbury on Thursday night, police said. Three suspects have been arrested and appeared in court on Friday.
The Waterbury Police Department’s auto theft task force and detectives from the vice squad criminal investigation division and the violent crimes task force were investigating attempted carjackings on Chase Avenue and Willow Street around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.
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Waterbury police said they had good descriptions of the suspects and knew they were armed.
They worked with other departments in the region and there were several attempts to stop the vehicle involved, a stolen white Ford Explorer, but they were not successful, according to Waterbury police.
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Then, around 10 p.m., the Explorer was spotted on America Street in the west end of the city.
Two detectives were the first to arrive at the scene and the suspects were trying to flee, police said.
Police were led through backyards to Clairmont Street, where a suspect shot Detective R.J. Sackett, a member of the vice and intelligence unit, in the leg as he was coming around a building, police said.
The officer returned fire at one point, but did not injure any of the suspects, according to police.
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Several officers arrived immediately, treated Sackett and brought him to Waterbury Hospital.
An arrest warrant obtained by NBC Connecticut says that the three suspects tried to steal a car at gunpoint, but they didn't know how to drive stick shift.
Police said Sackett was hired in 2007 and is a highly decorated police officer. He has since been released from the hospital, according to police.
Two of the suspects were apprehended within minutes and the third was apprehended within the hour, police said.
All of the suspects allegedly had weapons on them during the attempted carjacking, and they were targeting high-end vehicles such as Porsches and BMWs, the warrant states.
One of the three was injured by a police dog at Wilson Street and Sunnyside Avenue after the shooting, according to police.
Police have identified the suspects as 20-year-old Arian Perez-Feliciano, 18-year-old Sydney Reid and 19-year-old Alberto Rodriguez.
Perez-Feliciano is suspected of shooting Sackett and his bond was set at $2.5 million in court.
Perez-Feliciano was charged with criminal attempted murder, assault on a police officer, first-degree assault, unlawful discharge, two counts of robbery in the first degree, conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, interfering with an officer, criminal use of a firearm, reckless endangerment in the first degree, two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit and possession of a high-capacity magazine with an obliterated serial number.
Reid and Rodriguez were charged with two counts of robbery in the first degree, conspiracy to commit robbery in the first degree, larceny in the first degree, interfering with an officer and two counts of illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle.
Reid was also charged with two counts of threatening in the first degree and two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit. The judge set his bond at $501,000.
Rodriguez was also charged with criminal use of a weapon, threatening in the first degree, carrying a pistol without a permit and illegal alteration of a firearm. His bond was set at $756,000.
