65-Year-Old Dies After Night on the Green

Thomas Breen, Dec. 19, 2025, New Haven Independent

A 65-year-old homeless man died after police said he spent the night on a bench on the Green last week as temperatures dipped below freezing.

On that very same night, the Elicker administration opened a third temporary warming center after New Haven’s other two reached capacity. The city has subsequently created space for 35 more people to get out of the cold at an existing Grand Avenue shelter.

City police spokesperson Officer Christian Bruckhart told the Independent that a 65-year-old man named Abdulah Kanchero was picked up by an ambulance on the Green at around 7:30 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 12. He was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.

Bruckhart and the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) told the Independent on Friday that the cause and manner of Kanchero’s death are still under investigation.

Kanchero was originally from Ethiopia. His last known address was the 645 Grand Ave. homeless shelter.

Bruckhart said surveillance video showed that Kanchero originally sat down on a bench near Chapel Street and Temple Street on the Green at around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11.

It was cold that night, Bruckhart said. Kanchero was by himself.

Warming Centers Reach Capacity; Grand Shelter Expanded

On the same night that Kanchero spent on a bench on the Green, the city’s two warming centers — at Varick church on Dixwell Avenue and the 180 Center on East Street — were filled to capacity.

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