New London - Jesus "Gee" Pinero had a dinner date on Aug. 29, 2013, but first he wanted to meet with a man known on the streets as "Baby" to settle a dispute, according to court documents unsealed Friday in New London Superior Court.

The 29-year-old Pinero left his date's home with a friend, saying he would be "right back." Within minutes, he was lying on the ground near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and Prest Street with fatal gunshot wounds to the torso and extremities.

Pinero had gone out to meet with Keith Ramel Delvalle, 29, who, at 5 foot 3 inches, is perhaps known as "Baby" because of his small stature. The two men had dated two of the same women, and it was a source of friction between them.

Witnesses told the police the men may have also been fighting about money when they spoke by cellphone and arranged to meet on the street corner at about 9 p.m.

The rivals each arrived with a friend named Lance, both of whom would eventually be arrested for their roles in the homicide. Then, police say, "Baby" and "Gee" spoke for a few minutes before Delvalle shot Pinero three times at close range with a .25-caliber Beretta pistol.

Pinero's friend, Lance J. Brown, also known as "Mudd," allegedly returned fire with his .40-caliber Glock 23, popping off 10 rounds before he threw it in a nearby dumpster. The gun was found in "lock back" position, as if it had been fired until empty, according to police, and the shell casings were laid out in a linear pattern in the direction witnesses said the shooter, later identified as Brown, had fled.

Pinero was alive and upright following the shooting, witnesses said, but by the time police arrived, he was lying face down on the street, breathing shallowly and with a blank expression. He was pronounced dead about two hours later at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital.

Delvalle allegedly tossed his weapon on the grassy area between a nearby curb and sidewalk and left with Lance Goode, a 45-year-old city man whose civil rights lawsuit against the police department had been the subject of an NAACP press conference just a few weeks earlier. Goode, a significantly larger man than Delvalle, lost one of his shoes, a size 13 Nike sandal, at the scene, and it was recovered by police, according to court documents.

'I shot him three times'

In the hours after the shooting, Delvalle allegedly told a woman he knew, "I think I shot that (racial epithat). I shot him three times." He fled to the Bronx in New York, where U.S. Marshals arrested him in February at the Co-op City Housing complex.

The arrest warrant and search warrant affidavits released Friday indicate city police quickly developed information identifying Delvalle as the shooter, though it would be several months before they brought him back to New London and booked him on murder and firearms charges. The affidavits were unsealed after Delvalle, who was extradited in May, informed a judge through his attorney Corey J. Brinson that he was waiving his right to a probable cause hearing. His attorney then entered not guilty pleas on Delvalle's behalf to the charges of murder, criminal possession of a fiearm, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony and tampering with evidence.

Using forensic testing, witness interviews and phone records, the cops built the murder case against Delvalle and caught several others in their dragnet, including Goode, who is being held in lieu of $50,000 cash at the New Haven Correctional Center on charges of hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. Goode is accused of driving Delvalle to and from the crime scene in his wife's minivan, withholding information from police and changing his story multiple times when interogated by detectives.

Civil rights case pending

He has pleaded not guilty and has said he was merely driving his friend to the store when the shooting occurred. Goode's civil rights lawsuit, in which he claims that a former city police officer planted drugs on him during one incident and that he was brutalized during another, is pending in U.S. District Court.

Also arrested in the case was Brown, whose DNA was found on the Glock pistol that police recovered from the dumpster. Brown is charged with criminal possession of a firearm, carrying a pistol without a permit, first-degree reckless endangerment and illegal discharge of a firearm. He is free on $200,000 bond and has been making regular court appearances.

Additionally, city police in July arrested a New London woman and a juvenile whom they allege Delvalle was directing, in phone calls from prison, to sell heroin in an effort to raise money for his bond or legal fees. Department of Correction officials, who routinely monitor prisoner phone calls, notified New London police in June that Delvalle and Ishma R. Harris, 27, of New London, were discussing drug deals over the phone, according to a search warrant affidavit.

The police began surveillance on Harris, and say that on June 23, she and a juvenile male drove to the Mount Eden section of the Bronx to purchase heroin, according to the affidavit.

The police "converged" on Harris' car when she returned home to 14 Steward St., and she admitted she had 40 bags of heroin on her person, according to the affidavit. Harris, charged with possession and sale of narcotics, is free on $100,000 bond while her case is pending.

All four of the defendants have court dates in October.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN