Six arrested in stolen car/gun violence operation in Hartford, police say

Hartford police said they made six arrests Wednesday night as part of an effort to stop car thefts and associated gun violence.

Police from the department’s auto theft unit and other teams arrested Jaquan King, 20, of New Britain and five juveniles. King was charged with first-degree larceny, second-degree criminal trover, and operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s permission, police said.

Officers also recovered three stolen cars during the operation, which focused on areas of the city that were “plagued with gun violence and serious criminal activities,” Sgt. Valentine Olabisi said.

Details about the operation weren’t available early Thursday.

Large numbers of cars have been burglarized and stolen throughout Connecticut in recent years, and often the perpetrators are juveniles. During the pandemic, cars were stolen at a rate of about one per hour some nights, police said.

There also have been a few recent incidents during which suspected car thieves were associated with gun violence; one of the items burglars steal from cars is guns.

In Plainville last month, a suspected car burglar fired a shot when the car’s owner approached. And in Manchester Monday, one of a group of juveniles who crashed stolen cars and ran shot a local resident who intervened, police said. The 48-year-old man survived.

Manchester police said Thursday morning that they haven’t made any arrests in the shooting, and they don’t believe Hartford’s arrested suspects are connected to the gunfire.

Christine Dempsey can be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.