New Britain police are investigating a reported carjacking in the area of West Main Street after a group of people took a vehicle, with one member of the group armed with a firearm, according to police. The vehicle was last reported traveling toward Plainville, and no injuries were reported in connection with the incident.
What Police Have Said So Far
According to WFSB, the carjacking happened in the area of West Main Street, and a group took the vehicle before heading in the direction of Plainville. The outlet reports that despite the presence of a firearm, no injuries were reported, and the New Britain police investigation remains active. Beyond those details, police have not released information on suspects, the victim, or the vehicle involved, and WFSB's report does not specify when exactly the carjacking occurred.
The New Britain Police Department also maintains its own police blotter, which residents can check for updates on local incidents, though specific details on this case had not appeared there as of this report.
Part of a Broader, Shifting Pattern in Connecticut
Armed carjackings have cropped up in towns near New Britain before. In a prior case out of Middletown, police said two men got out of a red Dodge Charger and approached a couple with a gun, according to NBC Connecticut. The suspects then took the couple's red Honda CRV and drove off while a third suspect followed behind in the Charger, the outlet reported. Police later located the stolen Charger in New Britain, though the victim's Honda CRV had not been recovered, per that same report.
Another case highlighted the way a single carjacking can ripple outward. A Newington man told police that someone pointed a gun at him, demanded his car keys and stole his Toyota RAV4, according to CT Insider. Police said the stolen SUV was later used in armed robberies in Wethersfield, Rocky Hill, Glastonbury and Southington, along with a burglary in Plainville, the outlet reported.
Statewide Numbers Tell a Mixed Story
The New Britain case lands amid a broader statistical swing in Connecticut vehicle crime. Motor vehicle thefts statewide soared 33% in 2023 over the prior year, reaching 9,422 reported thefts, CT Insider reported, citing a rate of 261.09 thefts per 100,000 people that was the highest in New England. Hartford alone logged 1,160 motor vehicle thefts in 2023, up 101% from 2022, while the New Haven-Milford area saw thefts climb 37%, from 2,742 to 3,758, according to the same CT Insider analysis. Bridgeport recorded a smaller rise, from 576 thefts in 2022 to 601 in 2023.
That surge has since cooled. Carjacking rates in the first half of 2024 ran 26% lower on average than the same period in 2023, based on a Council on Criminal Justice analysis of cities that publish such data, according to Connecticut Public. Even so, that same first-half 2024 rate remained 60% higher than in the first half of 2019, the station reported, and about 70% of carjacking incidents nationally involved no injury, according to the analysis it cited. Connecticut's motor vehicle thefts then fell nearly 28% in 2025 compared with the prior year, part of a broader 17% drop in property crimes statewide, according to the Hartford Courant.
No arrests have been announced in the New Britain case, and police have not released a description of the vehicle or the suspects involved. The investigation remains active, and Hoodline will update this story as police release additional information.
