Tyrese Blue

Tyrese Alexander Blue Jr. was a 26 year old New Haven, Connecticut man whose fatal shooting in October 2023 became one of the city's most closely followed homicide cases, culminating in a 35 year prison sentence for his killer in September 2026. He was not a public figure by profession. He became known to the wider public only because of the violent circumstances of his death and the years long legal process that followed, a story that resonated with many in New Haven as an example of the city's ongoing struggle with gun violence.

According to New Haven police, Blue was shot in the chest at the intersection of Cedar and Cassius Streets in the Hill neighborhood of New Haven at around 8:40 p.m. on October 14, 2023. Fire and medical personnel attempted to revive him at the scene, but he was pronounced dead. Police said an argument had broken out shortly before the shooting, and that Blue had gone to the location to meet Lewis Santiago and another person, apparently in connection with a gun sale, when a fight and then the shooting occurred. His killing was the 19th homicide recorded in New Haven that year.

Blue's family described him publicly as a football player and a devoted son who, by his mother's account, had never caused trouble. He was also a new father: his family said he left behind a child who was only about two weeks old at the time he was killed, a baby who would go on to be raised by relatives in his absence. His mother, Sharon Blue, spoke to local television reporters in the aftermath, pleading for information and later for the community to protect its children, saying that no earthly justice could bring her son back.

The case remained open for more than six months before Lewis Santiago, then 27, was arrested in connection with the killing in May 2024 and charged with felony murder and firearm related offenses. Santiago initially pleaded not guilty and the case moved toward trial. In July 2026, on what would have been the first day of jury selection, he changed his plea to guilty on the felony murder and firearm possession charges, according to New Haven Judicial District State's Attorney John P. Doyle Jr. Under the plea agreement, the court was expected to impose a sentence of 35 years to serve.

That sentence was formally handed down in New Haven Superior Court in September 2026, nearly three years after Blue's death. News reports confirmed that Santiago received the full 35 year term for the 2023 shooting. For Blue's family, the sentencing closed the criminal case but did not undo the loss. As his mother put it in the days after his killing, she could not get her son back, and his child would grow up without him.