violent feud between East Side-Merrell Avenue Crips and the West Side's Bloods

Police plan to charge an imprisoned 22-year-old Stamford man today in the 2006 murder of Flanegaine Joseph, a 19-year-old Haitian immigrant whose death sparked a violent feud between East Side and West Side gangs. Renel Domond, formerly of 55 Stillwater Ave., will be charged with murder and first-degree assault in the Jan. 21, 2006, shooting that killed Joseph and injured a 15-year-old boy in the leg.
Domond was arrested on drug charges in March 2006 and is serving four years in a state prison. He will be charged in the homicide today at Stamford police headquarters. Joseph was walking at night with his friend near Colahan Street and Stillwater Avenue when he was shot in the torso. He died at Stamford Hospital the
next morning. For the six months that followed, two gangs - the East Side-Merrell Avenue Crips and the West Side's Bloods - attacked each other in stabbings, gunfights and a near-riot outside a funeral home after Joseph's wake. Police have said it was unlikely the groups were connected to the more organized national gangs of the same names. Sgt. Paul Guzda headed the homicide investigation and said today's arrest was the result of statements from people who initially were reluctant to speak with police. "After a while, we basically were able to find people that were willing to talk to us," Guzda said. "Time was on our side. We wore these people down. A little time went by and, little by little, they felt more comfortable talking." Guzda said Joseph had no apparent ties to gangs, but the shooting exacerbated a turf war between youths from the Merrell Avenue housing complex and the East Side, and those from the Southwood Square and Fairfield Court housing complexes on the West Side. "There was never any indication that this kid was a gang member," Guzda said. It was unknown whether Joseph or the 15-year-old were targets in the shooting, Guzda said. The investigation is still open, but Domond is the "main person," he said. Police said they will release more details at a news conference today after Domond is brought to Stamford. The pending arrest in the Joseph murder is the second big break for homicide investigators in a week. On Wednesday, police charged a Stamford teenager in the December 2007 fatal shooting of 22-year-old Gregory Rowell, whose body was found in his car in a West Side parking lot. Hyshon Smith, 18, of 72 Spruce St., confessed to the murder in a police interview.