Indian Man Killed in Connecticut While Delivering Food was a ‘Good Person’ and a ‘Family Treasure’

- Raviteja Koyyada, 26, who moved to the U.S. in 2022, was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Raviteja Koyyada, a 26-year-old Indian man living in Connecticut was shot and killed this past weekend while delivering Chinese food to a house in New Haven. Police responded to 911 calls reporting a person “down in the roadway,” according to a press release by the New Haven Police Department. When they arrived on the scene, they found Koyyada “unresponsive with a gunshot wound.” He was transported to Yale New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Statement regarding the homicide yesterday. pic.twitter.com/60zKKUoLN9
— New Haven Police Department (@NHPDnews) January 20, 2025
“Detectives determined that Koyyada was a delivery driver for a Chinese food restaurant and was shot while making a delivery to a house on Shepard Street,” the press release said. “His car was also stolen but located a short time later parked and unoccupied nearby,” the press release added.
Officer Christian Bruckhart told NBC Connecticut that the police “don’t know if the delivery actually happened and this is just a crime of opportunity, or if someone was specifically sort of targeting the driver. They are “trying to figure out a motive” for the “senseless act,” he said.
Koyyada moved to the U.S. in 2022 for “pursuing his dream of advancing his educations and making a meaningful impact in this world,” his sister Shreya Koyyada said in fundraiser for the family. She said her brother was “full of dreams and aspirations to make a career for himself in USA.” She described him as “a passionate student, community volunteer, beloved friend, caring brother, caring son and a family treasure.” He had “an infectious smile and brought joy and inspiration to everyone around him.”
The owner of the Chinese restaurant where Koyyada worked told NBC Connecticut that the young man who “recently completed his studies,” got to know staff at the restaurant and “eventually started helping out with deliveries.” The restaurant owner said he’s looking to help Koyyada’s family in India any way they can and wants people to know he was simply an innocent worker. “We thought he was a good person, and a good person is all that matters. That’s it.”
Shreya Koyyada said their parents, Chandramouli and Suvarna, “sacrificed everything, including selling our dream house” give her and her brother “the opportunity to study in the USA and chase our dreams.” Their mother is a housewife, she said, while their father “couldn’t work for the last couple of years due to unforeseen circumstances, leaving us with no financial stability,” she added. Funds raised will help “the family to navigate this deep grief, create a lasting memory of my brother and provide him with the final rites he truly deserves,” she said.