Early on Aug. 2, Jennifer Hicks was in a car with a friend and a man she hardly knew. Hicks had been invited out to “races” at a Manchester commuter lot, family members said Monday.
The native of El Paso, Texas, was shot and killed along with Gregory Scott, 24, during what police have described as a pop-up car meet. The shooting does not appear to be random, state police spokeswoman Trooper Christine Jeltema said.
Hicks died of a gunshot wound to the torso, and Scott died of gunshot wounds to the head, neck, torso and extremities, an official at the Chief State Medical Examiner’s Office said Monday.
Hicks’s brother, Nathan Ortega, and mother, Ericka Ortega, said the shooter had targeted Scott, the driver. Hicks, who was in the back seat, just happened to catch a fatal bullet, they said. Scott’s girlfriend, who had invited Hicks out, also was in the car, but was not hurt.
“I just want to get her some justice,” Ericka Ortega said of her daughter. “She did not know the area. … She didn’t know where she was going. She just trusted.”
On Sunday, troopers and Manchester police rushed to the same lot off Buckland Street after a report of shots fired. No one was injured. Police arrested two men and seized a BB gun and a pellet gun.
Jesus Omar Rivera-Gonzalez, 26, of Nutmeg Lane in East Hartford, and Manuel A. Polanco, 24, of Lawrence, Mass., were arrested on charges of carrying a dangerous weapon, illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, failure to comply with commuter parking regulations and breach of peace, police said. Both were released after posting bail and are to appear in Superior Court in Manchester on Sept. 1.
The Manchester incidents followed a shooting in late July during another impromptu gathering of car enthusiasts at a credit union parking lot in East Hartford. Three people were wounded. Local police are investigating.
State police have stepped up patrols of area commuter lots, Jeltema said. East Hartford police also have been watching local parking lots in the wake of the shooting there, and the increased scrutiny so far appears to have deterred similar incidents, police spokesman Lt. Josh Litwin said. The proactive patrols will continue until further notice, Litwin said.
The pop-up meets, which also can include illegal drag racing, also have raised concerns among both local and state officials about the spread of the coronavirus. However, because such events are unsanctioned and often announced only an hour in advance, they are hard to stop.
In the incident Sunday, troopers and Manchester officers responded about 2:45 a.m. to reports of shots fired in the commuter lot. One witness reported that someone was shooting a rifle.
Police surrounded the area and took the two men into custody.
A week earlier, 100-200 people had gathered in the large parking lot when Hicks and Scott were shot. State police were looking for a dark gray pickup truck with dark rims, possibly a model from 2013 through 2016, in connection with the shooting.
Hicks, family members said, had traveled to Massachusetts about a year earlier to be with her fiance, a U.S. Marine. She was attending cosmetology school and was scheduled to graduate in October and return to Texas.
Her mother and brother described “Jenna,” one of five siblings, as caring, loving and generous. A close friend, Alazay Moore, said, “Nothing mattered to Jenna but showing people love and compassion. This girl was honestly too good for this world.”
Christine Dempsey can be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.
