New London mayor adds additional patrols after recent shootings send schools into lockdown

NEW LONDON, Conn. (WFSB) - New London officials are trying to make the city safer after recent shootings sent two schools into lockdowns.

The two shootings happened within a week of each other.

“It’s scary. It’s really scary,” said Bethany Olsen when asked about the recent shootings.

She has a ring doorbell and says she constantly gets notifications about them.

“It makes you not want to get out of your car in certain places, even downtown hitting the bar, you think twice about it,” Bethany said.

But the New London mayor is saying, no more.

Mayor Michael Passero said the city and police are committing additional city resources to the streets and affected neighborhoods.

He says they plan on doing this by moving more officers to those areas and getting help from other agencies.

Mayor Passero hopes this will ease anxiety and “identify and swiftly bring to justice these reckless individuals.”

But Olsen believes these efforts don’t address the problem of future shootings.

“That would address the aftermath but not the problem,” said Bethany.

Part of that problem being these shootings have caused schools to take precautionary measures and go into lockdown.

“I have thought considerably and at length about homeschooling. If I didn’t have to send my kid to a public school then I wouldn’t,” Bethany said.

But to help keep communities safe, New London neighborhoods can expect more patrols and a closer watch from police.

No arrests have been made in the shootings.

Anyone with information concerning these incidents is encouraged to contact the New London Police Department’s Detective Bureau at 860-447-1481.

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