26-Year-Old Arrested for 2025 Murder of Dennis Atkinson

A 26-year-old New Haven man was arrested April 3 for the August 2025 murder of Dennis Atkinson, a 40-year-old Fair Haven resident shot dead over what investigators say was a counterfeit $100 bill during a drug deal.

Atkinson was killed on Ferry Street shortly before 5 a.m. on Aug. 18, 2025. Officers responding to 150 Ferry St. at 4:44 a.m. found him with a gunshot wound to the abdomen after the ShotSpotter acoustic gunfire detection system registered five shots in the area. He was transported by ambulance, but didn’t survive. He was pronounced dead at 1:05 p.m. that afternoon.

The case went unsolved for nearly eight months before police closed it. Acting Police Chief David Zannelli stood at 1 Union Ave. on Thursday alongside Mayor Justin Elicker, Lt. Derek Gartner, and more than a dozen of Atkinson’s relatives and friends to formally announce the arrest. Zannelli credited Det. Michael Haines and recently retired Det. Jessica Stone with building the case that led to charges.

The suspect, a 26-year-old New Haven resident, faces four counts: murder, carrying a pistol without a permit, criminal possession of a pistol or revolver, and criminal possession of a firearm and ammunition. He’s being held on $2.5 million bond and hasn’t entered pleas on any of the charges.

A nine-page arrest warrant affidavit, written by Haines on April 2 and obtained by the New Haven Independent, describes the dispute that preceded the shooting. Zannelli called it a disagreement “over money.” The warrant goes further. It traces the confrontation to a fake $100 bill passed during a drug deal. That’s what Dennis Atkinson’s life came down to in the end, according to investigators.

He wasn’t a stranger to downtown New Haven. Atkinson had worked as a Downtown Ambassador for the Town Green Special Services District, a job that put him on the streets every day talking to residents and visitors, helping people find their way. His obituary described it as “a role that perfectly suited his outgoing personality and love for connecting with people.” If you spent time in the city’s center, you probably crossed paths with him.

His family didn’t describe an abstraction at Thursday’s press conference. They talked about specific things. His laugh. His hugs. The way he walked into a room. “Every day I just want to hear his voice,” his sister Charlene said.

The obituary called him “family-oriented and down to earth, with a natural gift for humor that made him unforgettable.” That’s language families reach for when nothing they say feels like enough.

The arrest came in 2026, roughly 18 months after a year that saw New Haven grapple seriously with gun violence response and the department’s relationship with communities like Fair Haven. Zannelli’s team didn’t disclose publicly how they connected the suspect to the shooting, but the affidavit’s 9-page scope suggests a detailed evidentiary trail that investigators built quietly over months.

What’s clear is this: Atkinson was 40 years old, working a job he was good at, known to the people around him. He didn’t make the news until a 911 call went out at 4:44 a.m. on a Monday in August 2025, and by 1:05 p.m. that day he was gone. The suspect was 26 at the time of the alleged shooting. Police say a $100 bill, a fake one, was at the center of it.

Four charges. $2.5 million bond. No pleas yet entered.

For Charlene and the rest of Atkinson’s family, the legal proceedings are only starting. The arrest doesn’t return the laugh she’s missing.