Mirror - Vol. 35, No. 24 - April 21, 2010

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Week of April 21, 2010 | v„i. 35,!«,. 24
• fairfieldmirror.com ■
The Independent Student Newspaper
of Fairfield University
The Reflection of Fairfield
Fairfield Beach Shooter Arrested
Fairfield Beach Rd. remains untainted after the shooting
BY JOHN PADAVANO
STAFF WRITER
Sergeant James Perez of The Fairfield Police Depart-ment,
told The Mirror that the entire police department
was very thankful to the students and residents that came
forward and helped in this weeks investigation of a shooting
on Fairfield Beach Rd. "Nobody had to say anything- the level
of service that a community receives from its police service
is directly related to the cooperation of its citizens. Thanks to
the excellent witness cooperation we were able to close this
entire case in 16 hours."
Sergeant Perez gave this account to The Mirror:
Just before 1 a.m. on April 14,h police responded to a call
about gunshots on Fairfield Beach Rd. When police arrived at
Peter Caty/ Ihe Mirror
the scene, witnesses told the officers that a black male driving
a silver Mazda with New Jersey license plates was responsible
for shooting a handgun. The car then drove west on Fairfield
Beach Rd. towards the dead end.
The incident allegedly started when a car pulled
up to a group of students walking down the road. The driver
lowered his window and allegedly said, "Who wants to get
serious?" He repeated himself several times and after getting
no response, pulled out a handgun and shot five rounds into
the air.
Police immediately blocked off the road and
inspected every vehicle traveling east. During this inspection
they recorded all the information about the cars and every-one
in them.
The man responsible for the gunshots was one of
the people stopped. He was briefly detained but no weapon .
was found in the car and neither the car nor person matched
the description police had. The man then tried to get back
through the roadblock, supposedly to get the gun he had hid-den,
but police would not let him.
Police used infrared machines up and down the
road to try to find the suspect in case he was hiding, but to no
avail. They did find five shell casings around the 1200 block of
Fairfield Beach Rd.
On Wednesday morning people started coming in
with better information and the police realized they had been
looking for the wrong man the night before. Every witness'
story started and ended with the car. When the witness' were
shown pictures of the cars the police had stopped during
the roadblock, almost all of them identified the car as a silver
Mitsubishi Lancer with Connecticut license plates as opposed
to a silver Mazda with New Jersey plates which the officers
were originally looking for. The car also had tinted windows, a
detail that was not in the initial report.
The car belonged to Alex Ortiz, a resident of Bridge-port.
Ortiz is a light skinned Hispanic male with facial hair-another
inconstancy with the original report.
The police were able to get in contact with the sus-pects
mother and on Friday, April 16, and Ortiz then turned
himself in at the Fairfield Police Station. He was very coop-erative
and took the
officers down to where
he had stashed the
gun- behind a garage
on Fairfield Beach Rd.
The gun was licensed
and registered in his
name.
Ortiz was
charged with threaten-ing
in the first degree,
' reckless endanger-ment
in the first
degree and illegal
discharge of a weapon.
He bail is set at $5,000
and his court date is on
April 26.
The students involved were contacted by The Mirror, but
wished to stay silent on the matter.
Contributed By Fairfield Police Department
Mug shot of Alex Ortiz
Peter Caty/ The Mirror
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. delivered "Our Environmental Des-tiny"
speech Monday night April 19 at the Quick Center
Tuberculosis Hits Fairfield
BY DAN LEITAO
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Monday afternoon, Fairfield University students,
faculty and staff received an e-mail informing them
that, "Fairfield University has been notified by the Con-necticut
Department of Public Health of a potential
exposure to Tuberculosis by some members of the
community."
The Director of the Student Health Center, Judy
Weindling, told The Mirror, "The Connecticut Depart-ment
of Public Health notified us on the 13 of April that
someone associated with the university had tested
positive. We have been notified of one case." The Health
Center went over the procedure after being informed
bytheCDPH,
"The health center at any university has in place
plans for a communicable disease on campus. [They]
work in conjunction with the health department to
make sure that the disease is not spread. Based on the
history we received there was no longer any exposure
risk on campus." Weindling continued, "The personwho
had been reported has been treated and is no longer
contagious."
This means that the Health Center will now "be
identifying people who might have come in contact
with the [sick] person to see if they have any signs by
means of a PPD," said Weindling. "We sent letters out
to students, faculty and staffwho were tested. If they
tested positive that does not mean they have [the dis-ease]
just developed active antibodies and they would
be referred to a Tuberculosis center or an infectious
disease doctor to determine the best course of action."
Weindling wants students, faculty and staff to
know that "the exposure would have happened prob-ably
prior to spring break...There has been no exposure
after spring break therefore nobody has to panic that
they are in contact right now."
Students should still contact the Health Center im-mediately
if there is any suspicion that they are feeling
the symptoms of Tuberculosis.
INDEX
Opinion* Page 11
Arts & Entertainment • Page 13
Coffee Break • Page 17
Sports • Page 24
INSIDE THIS WEEK
"A LABORATORY
FOR LEARNING"
SEE PAGE 8.
PUB CRAWL SETS
THE BAR PRETTY
Low
SEE PAGE 13.
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