The hockey captain who wore No. 5 and planned a career in law enforcement never made it back to campus after his last game.
Ryan O’Shea, 21, of Stony Point, N.Y., was driving back to the University of New Haven late Friday, Oct. 16, 2026, when a wrong-way Chevrolet Silverado pickup hit his Honda Accord head-on on Interstate 91 southbound near Exit 9 in North Haven, Conn. Troopers were called at about 11:43 p.m. O’Shea was pronounced dead at the scene.
The pickup’s driver, Guillermo Carmona-Lopez, 31, of Bridgeport, is a Mexican national who entered the country illegally more than once after previously being removed, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an account made public Oct. 30. Border Patrol arrested him in May 2013 after an illegal entry, and he was issued an expedited removal. He crossed again near the Rio Grande Valley that same month and was arrested a second time. A final order of removal was issued May 30, 2013, DHS said, and he reentered later at an unknown time and place.
“Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.,” a DHS spokesperson said.
The Accord Was Struck Three Times
The impact pushed the Accord into another lane, where a Jeep struck it, state police said. The car then moved onto the right shoulder, where a GMC SUV hit it. Four vehicles were involved.
The GMC’s driver was taken to a hospital with serious injuries, WFSB reported, and the Jeep’s driver and front-seat passenger suffered minor injuries. Carmona-Lopez went to Yale New Haven Hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries.
Fire and EMS crews responded, the Connecticut Department of Transportation helped close the highway, and the State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Squad worked the scene. The roadway has reopened.
O’Shea’s death was the second from a wrong-way crash in Connecticut in 2026. Such deaths totaled 23 in 2022, 13 in 2024 and seven in 2025. The transportation department has installed 300 wrong-way detection systems on highway on-ramps; they have activated 1,300 times, and in 1,100 of those cases drivers corrected course before reaching the highway.
From an NYPD Internship to the DEA
O’Shea, a member of the class of 2027, was studying criminal justice with a concentration in police science and was set to graduate in the spring. He interned with the New York City Police Department over the summer and hoped to join the department after commencement, then pursue a career with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the university said.
“Ryan wanted to go into public service in order to help others,” Lorenzo Boyd, his academic adviser, said in a university tribute. Katherine O’Shea, his younger sister, said he wanted to become an NYPD officer.
He had been playing hockey since he was four years old. He attended North Rockland High School in Rockland County, N.Y. At the university he was senior co-captain of the men’s club hockey team and president of his Kappa Sigma chapter, which called him “a caring friend to anyone around him.”
A Plaque in the Heart of Campus
The university held a ceremony on its West Haven campus on Tuesday, Oct. 27, that ended with the unveiling of a plaque bearing his name in the heart of campus.
“We’ll always be saying Ryan’s name for years to come,” said Devon Crosby, the university’s athletics director. Aidan Dowsett, an alum who stayed close to him after graduating even though they overlapped on campus for only a year, described him as selfless and positive.
An online fundraiser created memorial scholarships in his name at both schools. The Ryan O’Shea Memorial Scholarship at the University of New Haven supports students pursuing degrees in criminal justice or law enforcement; the award at North Rockland High School goes to graduating student-athletes who show his work ethic, sportsmanship and dedication on and off the ice. More than $55,000 had been raised as of Oct. 27.
His No. 5 Retired
Minutes before the puck dropped Friday, Oct. 30, at Northford Ice Pavilion, the men’s club hockey team retired O’Shea’s No. 5 in a pregame ceremony ahead of its first game since his death, against Wentworth Institute of Technology. Teammates took the ice with stickers honoring him on their helmets.
Alexis Hartz, his girlfriend, called him “the love of my life.”
Carmona-Lopez remained hospitalized as of Tuesday, Oct. 27. He has not been charged, and state police said the crash remains under active investigation.
Devin Bertrand, general manager of the men’s ice hockey club, spoke to the crowd before the game. “Once a charger, always a charger,” Bertrand said.