Suspect, 17, Arrested In Killing Of Bridgeport Teen: Police

BRIDGEPORT, CT — Bridgeport police arrested a 17-year-old city resident Friday night in connection with the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Leon Richardson on Catherine Street last month.

The teenager turned himself in to homicide detectives at Bridgeport police headquarters with his mother and attorney, police said. He was charged with murder and carrying a pistol without a permit.

The teen is scheduled to appear Monday in juvenile court. Police said the murder charge requires the case to be transferred to adult court, where a bond will be set.

Police are withholding the teenager's name and photograph because of his age, pending the transfer to adult court.

Richardson, a former Bullard-Havens high school basketball player, was found with multiple gunshot wounds inside a car he had parked on Catherine Street at about 6:45 p.m. July 27, police said. The North End resident was pronounced dead at the scene.

Catherine Street is about two blocks from the Greene Homes public housing complex. Detectives believed from the beginning that the killing was connected to the complex, according to police. The teenager charged in the case is from Bridgeport's Hollow neighborhood and previously lived at Greene Homes.

"At this time, detectives are not providing the motive for the shooting," said Bridgeport Police Det. Jeffrey Holtz in a statement.

Richardson's funeral was held on Tuesday.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Homicide Detective Thomas Harper, who is leading the investigation, at 203-581-5239.

Richardson's death was Bridgeport's fifth homicide of 2026, according to police.

The city's sixth occurred Aug. 9, when 46-year-old Johnny Nesmith was fatally shot at the P.T. Barnum public housing complex. That case remains under investigation, police said.