NEW HAVEN – A Clinton man admitted to police that he shot and killed his business partner after they got into an argument at his used car dealership last month, according to court documents.
Charles V. Brown Jr., 48, was arrested on April 27, the day he shot Juan Carlos Colon, 39, of East Hartford, at his used car dealership on Forbes Avenue. according to court documents.
Brown told investigators he and Colon got into an argument, so he grabbed a handgun he had illegally purchased and fired three rounds, according to the police report.
Brown was charged with murder, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal possession of a handgun and carrying a handgun without a permit. He is being held on $2 million bond and is scheduled to appear in New Haven Superior Court on May 10.
Police were called to Primetime Auto Sales & Repairs on April 27 around 11 a.m. for a report of a person who had been shot. Brown flagged down police when they arrived, telling them to hurry up and that he needed help, according to documents in the case.
He led them through the front lobby to what one officer described as a “tattoo studio,” where police saw a man, later identified as Colón, unresponsive and lying on the floor, documents show.
“We got into an argument, I shot him,” Brown said, according to an officer’s supplemental case report.
Firefighters and medical personnel also responded to treat Colon, who had been shot in the back and had no pulse, according to the report. After a few minutes of CPR, Colon regained a pulse and was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he died of his injuries, according to the police report.
Police observed three spent shell casings near where Colon was lying. In addition to being shot in the back, Colon had two small abrasions on his left arm and the left side of his head, according to the report.
Police also found the firearm used in the incident in an adjacent office, which was described as a “makeshift music studio,” according to the report.
Police listened to the recording of Brown’s call and heard him tell the dispatcher, “Someone shot,” the report shows. The dispatcher ordered Brown to perform CPR if Colon was not breathing, according to the report. Brown performed CPR and Colon started breathing again. , the report said.
The dispatcher asked Brown what had happened and if the person responsible was still in the area.
“No, no, he’s not in the area,” Brown told the dispatcher, the report said.
Brown told investigators he and Colon had been business partners at the Forbes Avenue location for about two years. The business involved them buying, fixing and reselling vehicles, Brown said. But he blamed Colon for the “failure” of the business because he “improperly” filed paperwork and claimed he mishandled other issues, according to the report.
Brown said Colon owed him about $40,000, according to the report. The business partners had several verbal altercations, but not a physical fight, the report said.
Brown said he had been talking to Colon in the front room, a tattoo parlor, and the conversation turned into an argument, according to the report. After they started fighting, Brown said he left the room and went to an adjacent recording studio to retrieve a gun from a desk drawer, according to the report.
Brown told investigators he got the gun because he thought Colon was carrying a firearm, according to the report. Although she never saw him have a gun, Brown said Colon told him he had one, according to the report.
When Brown returned to the hallway, he said Colon “charged him” and the two began fighting, according to the report. Brown, with the gun in his right hand, fired the first shot and Colon “tried to choke him,” so he shot him a second time, according to the report.
“I don’t know if I intentionally wanted to shoot him again and (they were) just hugging and hitting things,” Brown told investigators during their interview, the report said.
They continued to fight when Colon “went weak” and fell to the ground, according to the report. When Colon collapsed, Brown said she “immediately heard ‘sorry'” and called 911, according to her interview in the report.
When asked why Brown told the dispatcher that the person responsible had left, “He said he didn’t want to delay the medical response by telling dispatch he was the shooter,” the report said.
Police checked Brown’s past records and found he was convicted of first-degree reckless endangerment in 2002 and was prohibited from legally possessing a gun, the report said.
Brown admitted to police that he could not legally own a firearm and that he had purchased it illegally on the street more than a year ago, according to the report. Brown said he bought the gun for protection “because of where his business is located and the number of burglaries he’s had in the past,” according to the report.
The report also mentions that an employee was at the business when the altercation occurred. The employee told police he was leaving the building when shots were fired.
