A 19-year old man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after Hartford police said he shot his 16-year-old girlfriend in the head in 2024 while her friend watched helplessly on a FaceTime call.
Jayzon Gunter of Hartford faced sentencing on Monday in Hartford Superior Court where a judge ordered that his prison term will be followed by three years of probation, according to court records. A violation would expose him to an additional 12 years behind bars, records show.
Gunter was sentenced after taking a plea bargain that required him to plead guilty to charges of attempted first-degree assault and attempted third-degree strangulation in connection with the shooting. Records show he also pleaded guilty to violating a protective order in another case.
Multiple charges were dropped under terms of the plea agreement, including one count of attempted murder.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, emergency crews responded to a residence on Lenox Street on Sept. 17, 2024, shortly after 12:30 a.m. on the report of a 16-year-old girl vomiting up blood and moaning in pain. Police were requested to the scene, as it was believed that the girl had been shot in the head.
18-year-old allegedly shot girlfriend in head while friend helplessly watched on FaceTime
The teen was rushed to the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center where she received emergency surgery and was listed in critical but stable condition. She was put into a medically induced coma at one point.
Investigators quickly learned that the girl had been staying with a friend at the residence where Gunter, her boyfriend at the time, visited her, the warrant affidavit said. Witnesses in the residence, including an adult and a juvenile, reported that the two argued before Gunter abruptly left.
Afterward, the 16-year-old’s neck was allegedly red and swollen, according to the warrant affidavit. The adult in the residence told the juvenile that Gunter, who was 18 at the time, had allegedly wrapped a phone charger around her neck, police wrote.
Both witnesses reported hearing a loud sound minutes after Gunter had left. The adult told investigators it had sounded like Gunter returned to the residence about 10 minutes after leaving, the warrant affidavit said.
The girl was found on the floor mumbling and spitting up blood, according to the warrant affidavit. A friend of hers who was not at the residence told investigators she was on a FaceTime call with the girl at the time of the shooting, police wrote.
The friend told police she heard a male enter the room before the girl allegedly indicated he had a gun that he pointed at her, according to the warrant affidavit. She claimed that she then saw the male pointing a gun toward the girl’s head before she heard a bang, at which point the girl dropped her phone, police wrote.
According to the warrant affidavit, the girl allegedly told a nurse at the hospital that the man who shot her was named Jayzon.
About 12 hours after the shooting, the Hartford Police Department’s Fugitive Task Force and the Emergency Response Team found Gunter at an apartment on King Street. He was arrested on an unrelated warrant, according to police.
Investigators said Gunter spoke to police and placed himself at the scene of the shooting, the warrant affidavit said. He claimed that he heard a “shot” come from the bedroom where the victim was, according to the warrant affidavit.
Gunter allegedly admitted to being involved in a physical altercation with the girl before the shooting but claimed that he only threw a phone cord at her, the warrant affidavit said.
Hartford police obtained the warrant charging Gunter the same day. According to the state Department of Correction, he has been in custody since the arrest.