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Bridgeport man pleads guilty in 2018 fatal shooting of 12-year-old boy
BRIDGEPORT — A city man is facing 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to participating in the drive-by shooting in 2018 that killed a 12-year-old boy.
Alexander Bolanos, 21, showed no emotion as he stood before Superior Court Judge Kevin Russo and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, second-degree larceny and possession of a pistol without a permit.
Under the plea bargain, State’s Attorney Joseph Corradino said Bolanos faces a sentence of 25 years, suspended after he serves 20 years and followed by five years of probation on Aug. 31.
On Dec. 18, 2018, 12-year-old Clinton Howell was walking home from the corner store with a pocketful of candy when he was shot to death just steps from his home.
Police said Bolanos had been the driver of the car that the shots were fired from and that Howell’s older cousin, who had been standing nearby, had been the target of the attack.
Last December Tajay Chambers, 22, who police said was the shooter, was sentenced to 32 years in prison.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Chambers told Police Detective Adam Roscoe that on Dec. 18, 2018, 16-year-old Alex Bolanos and two other youths had picked him up in a Ford Escape they had previously stolen on Madison Avenue. Chambers took over the driving and they went to a location in Stratford to make a sneaker trade.
While driving back, Chambers received a Snapchat video on his cellphone from Howell’s cousin who Chambers told the detective is a member of the BGs gang.
“In the video (the cousin) showed them the Willow Street sign and they understood this to be a dare or challenge. Chambers stated that after receiving the video he said, ‘they just hit me, they are on Willow,’” the affidavit states.
With Bolanos now at the wheel, the four drove to Willow Street.
At first, they didn’t see any BG members, so they drove around the block twice, the affidavit states. On the third pass, they saw Clinton Howell’s cousin who they believed to be one of the captains of the BGs. He was coming back from the corner store with the young boy.
When the cousin saw them, he fired at them with a pellet gun, the affidavit states. Bolanos then drove to the end of the block and made a U-turn. One of the other youths in the car handed Chambers a loaded 9 mm handgun and Chambers told the detective he extended his hand out the rear passenger window and fired twice.
Howell was shot once in the chest and died at Bridgeport Hospital.
“I didn’t know that he was 12 years old,” police said Chambers told them.
