ctnow.com: CONNECTICUT
Address:http://www.ctnow.com/news/local/hc-hfdshot1217.artdec17.story?coll=hc%2Dheadlines%2Dlocal
Burglary Suspect Killed By Store Owner
December 17, 2001
By MATT BURGARD, And LEE FOSTER Courant Staff Writers

The owner of a secondhand merchandise store in Hartford fatally shot a
burglar who had emerged from a back storeroom with a gun this weekend,
police said.

Rafael Santana, 32, of no certain address, was declared dead from
gunshot wounds at Hartford Hospital Saturday evening, Hartford police
said Sunday.

Santana had broken into the closed store earlier in the day, according
to police, and officers believe he was hiding there when they responded
to a burglar alarm at the store a few hours before the shooting.

Santana was shot by Jeffrey Andrews, owner of Bacon’s Antiques at 95
Maple Ave., when Santana emerged from a back storeroom with a gun. The
two began arguing, and Andrews pulled out the gun he keeps at the store
and shot Santana, according to police.

Earlier that day, officers arrived about 2:30 p.m. in response to a
burglar alarm at the store and found a broken front window. After
searching the store they found no intruder. Police said they believe
Santana was hiding in the store throughout the search and emerged when
he thought no one was still inside.

Andrews, a Manchester resident, had arrived while police were on the
scene and remained at the store to board up the broken window when the
officers left.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Andrews called police, saying he had just shot an
armed man who had been hiding in a stock room at the rear of the store.
The room stored stacks of old paintings, statues, commercial signs and
other curiosities.

When police arrived, they found Santana on the floor. He had been shot
twice in the stomach, police said.

Andrews has a state permit to carry a gun. It could not be determined
Sunday if Santana fired the gun police said he was carrying. Andrews
could not be reached Sunday for comment.

Police said they did not expect to file charges against Andrews.

Myra Alejandro, the mother of Santana’s 15-year-old son, said she does
not believe her ex-boyfriend was carrying a gun when Andrews confronted
him.

“That’s not something he would do,” she said. “He didn’t have to be
shot.”

Alejandro said Andrews and Santana had a history of arguing, mostly over
Santana’s attempts to operate a mobile hot dog stand in front of
Andrews’ store.

“The store owner didn’t want us near his store, so he used to yell at us
a lot,” she said. “I think they got into an argument, maybe over
something Rafael was trying to pawn.”

Alejandro acknowledged that Santana had a history of drug abuse and
criminal arrests, including a record of drug possession charges.
She said Santana would be buried in his native Puerto Rico once his body
is released by the medical examiner’s office.

http://www.robertwaters.net