Cops may have gun used to slay mom as she was cooking dinner

By Olivia Lank, Matthew Campbell, Roger Susanin, Shawnte Passmore

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    HARTFORD, Connecticut (WFSB) — A woman was killed during a drive-by shooting in Hartford on Wednesday evening.

It happened on Sisson Avenue around 5 p.m.

The shooting victim was later identified as Sylvia Cordova, 56, of Hartford.

Police said Cordova was cooking dinner in her apartment when she was struck and killed.

“Absolutely tragic. For this to occur to a woman in the security of her home is tragic,” said Hartford Police Lt. Aaron Boisvert.

Play Video spaceplay / pause qunload | stop ffullscreenshift + ←→slower / faster ↑↓volume mmute ←→seek . seek to previous12… 6 seek to 10%, 20% … 60% A woman was killed during a drive-by shooting in Hartford on Wednesday evening.

Police said at least nine shots from a rifle were fired from a car, in broad daylight.

Officials said Cordova was the unintended target of the shooting.

“There was no answer at the first floor. The officers observed that bullet damage was apparent on the first floor, so they made entry into the home to do a protective sweep,” Lt. Boisvert said.

More than a dozen of the victim’s family were at the scene on Wednesday.

People in the neighborhood said this is a tragedy that anyone can relate to because the victim was innocent and minding her own business.

“She was a very loving and caring person. Always like that. It just hurts because she was minding her own business,” said Aaliyah Velez, a family friend.

Family and friends called the mother and grandmother “Pebbles.”

“How can you know that you just killed someone innocent. Someone that was just minding their business,” Velez said.

Police said they’re determined to find the person responsible, and will lean on home surveillance as well as the extensive networks of cameras in the city.

In fact, on Thursday the police chief said they’ve already made a breakthrough, and may have secured key evidence.

“Within 10 or 11 hours, we had in our possession what we believe to be the firearm responsible for this shooting,” Hartford Police Chief Jason Thody said.

Rev. Henry Brown, with faith-based group Mothers United Against Violence, said he’s urging the community to cooperate with police.

The group is preparing to hold back-to-back vigils after the city’s recent violence, as police investigated two murders on Wednesday evening.

He’s also urging people to call each other out when they know someone is breaking the law.

“The one thing that we do know is that somebody else is going to lose their life in Hartford,” Brown said.

Hartford police said there have been 18 homicides so far this year.

Anyone with information is urged to call police at 860-722-TIPS.

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