Felon Charged with Norwalk Home Invasion

A Bridgeport man convicted of felony burglary in 2007 was arraigned Thursday for allegedly participating in a home invasion armed robbery in Norwalk last March.

An affidavit prepared by Norwalk Detective James Thompson to obtain an arrest warrant alleges Tyson Lamar Wells was one of two men who invaded a second-story apartment  at 7 Longview Ct. on March 16. It says the men held two women and two children, ages 5 and 2, at gunpoint while demanding to be paid $20,000 the boyfriend of one of the women owed them. (Some state records and Norwalk Police spell Wells' first name Tyshon.)

The affidavit goes on to describe the incident as follows:

The women told police two men entered the stairwell leading up to the apartment one of them shares with her boyfriend. The door was unlocked and they said the men walked in at about 2:30 p.m.

The woman who lived there said one of the men wore a mask, a gray hoodie and black gloves. She described him as aggressive and threatening.

She said the other man did not wear a mask or gloves, but brandished a black handgun. She described him as calm and polite.

The two women and two children were ordered to lie on the floor, and the woman who lived there said she cowered on the floor, begging the men not to shoot them.

She told them she knew nothing about the money, but said there was a safe in the apartment. She said the gunman held the weapon to her head as she led them to the safe. They demanded she open the safe, but she did not know the combination. She said the man wearing the mask said she was lying and ordered his partner to shoot her.

The woman convinced the men to take the safe, and they carried it down a stairwell and out of the building. Looking out a hallway window, she said she saw a white car drive up and watched the men put the safe in the car’s trunk, then enter it and drive away.

The woman’s boyfriend told police the safe contained four guns, 45-caliber ammunition, personal papers and $500 cash.

Three days later, he reported his 2012 Dodge Charger was stolen while it was parked on Lexington Avenue in Norwalk. He told police a pistol was under the driver’s seat. He also said he believed the spare key for the car was in the stolen safe.

On April 5, Bridgeport firefighters investigating a report of a gas odor found his car disassembled in an abandoned residential garage on Hancock Avenue. The pieces of the car were transported to Norwalk Police Headquarters, where detectives found two latent fingerprints and dried blood.

The Connecticut state forensic lab allegedly found one of the prints was Wells'.

Following the Longview Court robbery, the woman who resided there told police she’d remember the face of the gunman. According to the affidavit, on Oct. 18 she viewed a photo line-up and selected Wells’ mugshot as the man who held the gun to her head.

Wells, 23, of 23 Freemont St., has been held in the Garner Correctional Institution in Newtown since his arrest on May 23 by Waterbury Police.

Waterbury Police arrested Wells on charges of criminal possession of a pistol, illlegal discharge of a firearm, first-degree-burglary, first-degree reckless endangerment, and cruelty to animals.

Wells was transported to state Superior Court in Norwalk Thursday morning to be arraigned on charges of home invasion and conspiracy to commit home invasion.

Judge William J. Wenzel ordered Wells be held in lieu of $100,000 bond and transferred his case to Part A in Stamford where more serious felonies are adjudicated.

Wells is scheduled to appear in Stamford court Dec. 18.

Following his arrest July 10, 2012, by the state's probation department, Wells pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, a Class C felony, Judicial Branch records show.

Home Invasion is a Class A felony that, upon conviction, requires a minimum sentence of ten years that cannot be suspended.

At a news conference Thursday morning, Det. Sgt. Lee Young said the investigation of the Norwalk home invasion incident continues in order to capture Wells’ conspirator.