A Connecticut man's 58th birthday tragically turned fatal when he was killed by a stray bullet on Sunday morning, the New Haven Register reported.
Darryl McNair was playing Solitaire in the basement of his West Hills home at 2 a.m. when several gunshots went off in the distance. One of the bullets entered the basement and struck McNair.
He was rushed to Yale-New Haven Hospital where he died several hours later, the newspaper reported.
McNair, who was a construction worker, held a pre-birthday celebration with family just hours before he died. His family planned on holding another celebration on Sunday, McNair's birthday.
"I'm shocked," said the victim's stepdaughter Chandra Costin, who was startled out her sleep when the gunshots went off. "It hasn't really kicked in yet."
Police are still trying to piece together what happened in the moments before the shootings that apparently no one witnessed.
Aziz Amezzane, who lives near the victim's house on Strong Street, believes the shooting is drug related.
"They have to stop the drugs first," Amezzane told the newspaper. "I know (McNair) is innocent, but they have to find the reason why they were shooting in the first place."
New Haven has seen a recent uptick in violence, with eight people being shot in the course of one week. A shooting on Aug. 8 killed 15-year-old Jacob Craggett. His two brothers were also shot but survived.
The city's Assistant Police Chief Archie Generoso and Mayor Toni Harp called for an end to the violence at Craggett's funeral, held the day before McNair was killed, the newspaper reported.
McNair's Neighbors expressed shock over the shooting as they remembered the victim who was described as a peaceful, standup man who loved to cook.
"For him to get killed on his birthday, that's crazy," neighbor John Smith, who attended McNair's birthday party Saturday night, told the New Haven Register. "I'm gonna get up out of here. It's out of control. Kids can't even play outside because (people) be acting crazy."
