>> On the south end of Bridgeport sits some of the city’s most recognizable landmarks, Seaside Park, the home of Bridgeport’s annual Puerto Rican Day Parade, and the University of Bridgeport, where future NBA star Manute Bol once played college basketball. But in that same neighborhood sat >> >> Marina Village, a public housing complex that would become connected to some of the most notorious crimes, gang rivalries, and tragedies in Connecticut.
When 15-year-old Rashad Lee was murdered in 2006, it brought attention to a group that had been growing in the shadows. In this episode, we’ll cover the history, violence, and legacy left behind. This is the story of Marina Village, and welcome to another episode of Street Scene Diaries.
For decades, Marina Village was one of the most recognizable housing projects in Bridgeport. Located on the city’s south end, the neighborhood sat just minutes away from Seaside Park, Bridgeport Harbor, and the University of Bridgeport. To many residents, Marina Village was simply home.
Families raised children there, neighbors looked out for one another, and community cookouts regularly brought residents together. But like many housing projects throughout America, Marina Village also faced its share of challenges. By the early 2000s, violence had become an increasing concern throughout Bridgeport.
Neighborhoods often develop their own identities, and for many young people, where you live could determine who your friends were and who your enemies became. Marina Village wasn’t alone. Across the city, housing projects and neighborhoods often developed rivalries with one another. One of Marina’s biggest rivals was P.T.
Barnum, another public housing complex located on Bridgeport’s West End side of the city. As tensions between young people from different neighborhoods continued to grow, groups began forming around the places they called home. Out of that environment came a group known as Stack Boys. At first, few people outside Marina Village knew much about them.
To many residents, they were simply neighborhood kids growing up together in the projects. But over time, the group’s name would become associated with violence, police investigations, and some of the most notorious stories to come out of Bridgeport. Among the young people connected to that world was 15-year-old Rashad Lee.
According to later reporting, Rashad was identified by his mother as a member of Stack Boys. Another teenager, Antoine Campus, allegedly wanted to become associated with the group as well. But whatever relationship existed between the two teenagers, eventually fell apart. According to police, the dispute centered around a cell phone.
What started as an argument between two teenagers would end in tragedy. On July 24th, 2006, Rashad Lee was shot and killed in Marina Village. He was just 15 years old. Authorities later arrested Antoine Campus and charged him with Rashad’s murder. For Marina Village, the killing was devastating.
But Rashad’s death would have consequences far beyond the immediate tragedy. As investigators looked deeper into the circumstances surrounding the murder, increasing attention began focusing on the young men operating out of Marina Village. For many people throughout Bridgeport, this was one of the first times they would hear the name Stack Boys.
Unfortunately, Rashad Lee would not be the last young man connected to Marina Village to lose his life. And over the next several years, the violence surrounding the neighborhood would only continue. >> >> If the murder of Rashad Lewis brought attention to Marina Village, the violence connected to the neighborhood didn’t stop there.
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On July 23rd, 2008, 20-year-old Dexter Hill was shot and killed inside his Fairfield Avenue home. A former Bassick High School quarterback, Dexter’s death added another name to a growing list of young men whose lives have been cut short in Bridgeport. Unlike Rashad’s murder, Dexter’s case would remain unsolved.
But years later, as law enforcement continued investigating Stack Boys, authorities would identify Dexter’s homicide as one of several murders connected to the group. Now, two murders were being linked to the same growing organization. And while investigators focused their attention on Marina Village, another group of young men was beginning to make a name for themselves on Bridgeport’s East Side.
While much of the attention surrounding Bridgeport’s violence was beginning to focus on Marina Village, another story was unfolding across the city. On Bridgeport’s East Side, a new generation of young men was building a reputation of its own. Among the most well-known were brothers Shawn Davidson and Abraham Davidson, better known as AB.
Unlike Stack Boys, >> >> whose influence was centered around Marina Village, the Davidsons were becoming known figures on the East Side. Over time, their names became associated with shootings, street conflicts, and a growing reputation that extended far beyond their neighborhood. The brothers were also connected to a wider circle of East Side figures, including the Thompson brothers, whose names would become familiar to many people following Bridgeport street politics.
As tensions between different groups throughout the city continued to [singing] rise, the Davidson’s influence continued growing. And in 2009, a violent incident at a movie theater in Trumbull >> >> would bring even more attention to the Davidson brothers. By 2009, tensions between groups from Marina Village and Bridgeport’s East Side were continuing to grow.
One of the most public examples occurred on March 14th, 2009. That night, members of the East Side and Stack Boys crossed paths at Trumbull Cinemas. What began as a fight between the rival groups quickly escalated. During the chaos, gunfire erupted inside the theater. The shooting sent moviegoers running for safety and immediately drew widespread media attention throughout Connecticut.
Authorities later identified Abraham AB Davidson as the gunman. For many people outside of Bridgeport, >> >> it was the first time they had heard the Davidson name. For those already familiar with the East Side, it only added to a reputation that had been growing for years. But while Shawn and AB’s names continued growing, there was another young man who was dealing with a different struggle.
Like many families in Bridgeport, Boobie Padilla’s mother wanted something better for her son. Hoping to get him away from the problems that existed on the East Side, she moved the family to Marina Village looking for a fresh start. Instead, many of the same issues followed them. In later interviews, Boobie’s mother described fights, shootings, and constant tension inside the neighborhood.
Rather than escaping the violence, she felt her son had simply found himself surrounded by a different version of it. Making matters worse, Boobie was often viewed as an outsider. Although he now lived in Marina Village, >> >> his roots remained tied to the East Side. As time passed, >> >> Boobie found himself reconnecting with friends from his old neighborhood, including Shawn Davidson.
By this point, tensions between groups connected to the East Side and Marina Village were continuing to grow. And as those tensions increased, Boobie found himself caught in the middle of a conflict that was becoming increasingly dangerous. By 2010, the feud between Stack Boys and the East Side had already produced fights, shootings, and years of growing tension.
On February 19th, 2010, those tensions followed both groups to Hall Neighborhood House on Bridgeport’s East Side. The community center was hosting a college preparation event for local students. But when the program ended and people began leaving, members and associates of Stack Boys and the East Side crossed paths outside.
Among those present was Johnny Hyman, one of the most prominent members of Stack Boys. Also present were Shawn Davidson and other individuals connected to the East Side. Before long, a confrontation broke out. What started as an argument quickly escalated into a fight. Then the guns came out. According to investigators, Shawn Davidson and Johnny Hyman exchanged gunfire in the parking lot.
As the shooting unfolded, Davidson fired toward Hyman, but the bullet never reached its intended target. Instead, it struck 16-year-old Anthony Boobie Padilla in the back of the head. Boobie collapsed to the ground. He would later die from his injuries. For Boobie’s family, it was the outcome they had spent years trying to avoid.
His mother had moved the family to Marina Village hoping to give her son a different future. Instead, he became one of the youngest victims of the growing conflict between Marina Village and the Eastside. Initially, investigators charged Johnny Hyman in connection with the murder. But as the investigation continued, authorities determined that Shawn Davidson had fired the fatal shot while attempting to shoot Hyman.
Davidson would later plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter and carrying a pistol without a permit. In 2012, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. For law enforcement, the case appeared resolved. But the fallout from Boobie Padilla’s death was far from over. Even after Shawn Davidson was sentenced for the death of Boobie Padilla, the violence surrounding Marina Village continued.
One of the people caught in that violence was Kwame Crosby. At the time, Crosby was expected to testify against Johnny Hyman in a gang-related shooting case. Because of that, prosecutors would later argue that his life was in danger long before he was killed. According to court testimony, Crosby had been warned not to return to Marina Village.
But despite the warnings, he continued visiting family members who lived there. On one of those visits, Crosby was sitting inside a vehicle in Marina Village when events were set into motion that would ultimately cost him his life. Prosecutor say Jack O’Kelly Medina received a phone call informing him that Crosby was in the neighborhood.
>> >> Witnesses later testified that after receiving the call, Medina made his intentions clear. Word to my grandfather, I am going to kill him. Medina then left to look for Crosby. When he found him, prosecutors say he approached and opened fire, striking Crosby multiple times while he sat inside the vehicle.
After the shooting, Medina attempted to flee the scene on a bicycle. The escape was short-lived. Police quickly identified Medina as a suspect and arrested him. For investigators, the murder was especially troubling. This wasn’t just another shooting. A witness connected to an ongoing case against a prominent Stack Boys member was now dead.
Medina would later plead guilty and receive a 20-year prison sentence. As murders, shootings, and witness intimidation cases continued to pile up, law enforcement attention on Marina Village and Stack Boys reached levels never seen before. By 2012, the era that had defined Marina Village for years was beginning to unravel.
The violence had claimed lives, sent others to prison, and attracted more law enforcement attention than ever before. That same year, reputed Stack Boys member Terrick Williams, also known as Pig and Noody, was shot outside Club Lo in Bridgeport. Days later, he died after being removed from life support.
He was 24 years old. For many, Williams’ death represented another example of the cycle that had consumed so many young men connected to Marina Village. As the body count continued to rise, law enforcement attention on Marina Village intensified. Years of murders, shootings, witness intimidation, drug trafficking, and gang activity had drawn the attention of local, state, and federal authorities.
Stack Boys members and associates were arrested, prosecuted, and sentenced on a variety of racketeering, drug, and weapons charges. The organization that had once dominated Marina Village was now under intense pressure from law enforcement. But authorities did not stop there. As the Stack Boys era began to fade, federal investigators shifted their attention toward the Marina Village Bloods and the Sex Money Murder set.
The goal was no longer simply solving individual crimes. Law enforcement was now focused on dismantling the organizations they believed were fueling much of the violence surrounding Marina Village. Meanwhile, many of the most recognizable figures from the story were disappearing. Johnny Heiman was eventually released from prison.
After years of legal battles and incarceration, >> >> he later died following a battle with cancer. Abraham AB Davidson’s story would also come to a tragic end. >> >> He survived shootings, prison, and the violent conflicts that defined much of this documentary. But on July 6th, 2014, just weeks after being released from prison, AB Davidson was shot and killed on Barnum Avenue.
He was only 23 years old. One of the central figures in the Marina Village and East Side feud was gone. As these stories played out, Marina Village itself was entering its final days. Families were relocated, buildings were emptied, and the housing complex that had stood on Bridgeport’s South End for generations was eventually closed and demolished.
New housing would eventually take its place. But while the buildings disappeared, the stories did not. The story of Marina Village is one of violence, loss, friendship, loyalty, survival, and community. The people who lived, died, and struggled there left a mark on Bridgeport that remains long after Marina Village itself disappeared.
This has been another episode of Street Scene Diaries. If you think stories like this deserve to be told, leave a comment below. And if you want more real stories from real places, don’t forget to like and subscribe.
Disclaimer : This content may be created by AI for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.
