A 41-year-old woman has been stabbed to death at a rooming house in Bridgeport, becoming the city's third homicide victim of the year. Police identified the woman as Willisha Riddick, who died from multiple stab wounds in an attack that unfolded overnight. The killing turned a residential building into a crime scene and left neighbors shaken by the violence that played out among them.
The attack happened at a rooming house on Park Avenue, on a stretch between Atlantic and Gregory Streets near the University of Bridgeport campus. According to police, their patrol division was dispatched to the 300 block of Park Avenue on a report of an altercation taking place and someone possibly having a knife. The call brought officers to a building where a woman living there had been fatally wounded.
When officers arrived after midnight, they found Riddick in a dire state. She was discovered bleeding and unresponsive in front of the door, and she later died at the hospital. The location of her body, just outside the entrance, captured how the violence had spilled into the doorway of the home where she lived.
Police said the deadly attack appeared to be the culmination of an ongoing problem at the address. In the hours preceding the stabbing, there had been multiple reports regarding some type of disturbance at that location. It appears, police said, that this kind of ongoing incident, which had been taking place for a while, escalated and resulted in the stabbing death of Riddick.
There was also a second person hurt at the rooming house that night. Police said their investigation found that, earlier in the night, another woman who lives at the house went to the hospital with a minor stab wound. That detail pointed to a night of escalating conflict at the address before the fatal attack on Riddick.
Witnesses described a tense scene in the hours beforehand. One neighbor said his wife told him about loud noises like a big argument outside, and that when he went out around midnight after hearing a commotion again, he saw four people arguing on the porch. Signs on the property indicate that the rooming house is under video surveillance, and police said they do have video but would not comment on what it shows because it is evidence.
Investigators have moved quickly to gather what they can. Police said they interviewed people overnight and have recovered the weapon used in the killing. They also said that a check of the address did not find a history of problems there. People who stopped by the scene on Tuesday morning were overcome with emotion, with one remarking that it was sad given that it is a really pretty place next to the park, as the investigation into Bridgeport's latest homicide continued.