Bridgeport Felon Held on $500K Bond After Two Shootings Hours Apart

A 29-year-old Bridgeport man with a history of firearm arrests is being held on a $500,000 bond after police say he opened fire twice within hours of each other on the city's East Side earlier this month, near the intersection of Boston and Seaview avenues. No one was hurt in either shooting, but investigators say the search that followed turned up a loaded revolver and led to charges that could put the convicted felon behind bars for years.

Justin Morales was taken into custody on Aug. 12 after Bridgeport police executed a search warrant at his residence, according to News12 New York. Police say the shootings happened on Aug. 1 near Boston and Seaview avenues, though no injuries were reported in either incident. Morales has since pleaded not guilty to attempted first-degree assault and criminal possession of a firearm and is scheduled for a pretrial court appearance at Bridgeport Superior Court on Sept. 16, per CTPOLICELIVE.

The arrest itself was no routine pickup. It involved a joint operation between the Bridgeport Police Task Force, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, and the department's Tactical Narcotics Unit and Emergency Services Unit, according to the Bridgeport Police Department's account of the operation. That kind of tactical buildup is standard for the department's Emergency Services Unit, which is trained specifically for high-risk search warrants, hostage negotiation, and barricaded-suspect situations.

What Investigators Found Inside

During the search, officers recovered a loaded .38-caliber revolver from Morales's home, the department's report states. Detectives say that weapon has now been submitted for ballistic testing to determine whether it can be linked to the Aug. 1 shootings or to evidence from other unsolved crimes in the area. Police have not said when results are expected, and whether the gun ties to additional cases remains an open question in what they describe as an active investigation.

The FBI's involvement traces back to its Bridgeport Safe Streets Task Force, a multi-agency unit that pairs federal agents from the FBI, ATF and DEA with local police to target gang activity and firearm trafficking. Morales, police say, is a convicted felon with a history of prior firearm arrests, a status that adds significant legal weight to the gun charge now filed against him.

The Charges He's Facing

Morales was charged with criminal possession of a firearm, criminal attempt to commit assault, and illegal discharge of a firearm, according to News12's reporting. Under Connecticut General Statutes § 53a-217, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is a Class C felony carrying a mandatory minimum of two years in prison and a $5,000 fine, with a maximum of up to 10 years. The attempted assault charge carries even steeper exposure — criminal attempt to commit first-degree assault under §§ 53a-49 and 53a-59 is a Class B felony with a mandatory minimum of five years and a maximum of 20 years, according to Connecticut General Assembly statutes.

The illegal discharge charge stems from C.G.S. § 53-203, which bars firing a weapon within municipal limits without lawful authorization — the third distinct offense filed against Morales stemming from the Aug. 1 incidents. Taken together, the charges reflect how Connecticut's sentencing structure treats repeat firearm offenders differently from first-time defendants, layering mandatory minimums on top of each other rather than allowing them to run concurrently at a judge's discretion.

A Broader Push Against Retaliatory Violence

Bridgeport's East Side has seen law enforcement lean on federal partnerships like the Safe Streets Task Force specifically to interrupt cycles of gunfire before they escalate into repeat retaliation. Outside of policing, community anti-violence programs such as StreetSafe Bridgeport also work this terrain, deploying trained “credible messengers” to conduct street outreach and mediate disputes in hopes of heading off retaliatory shootings after gunfire incidents, according to Catalyst CT.

For now, Morales remains held on the $500,000 bond ahead of his September court date, and detectives continue working to determine whether the recovered revolver connects to any other open cases.