East Hartford/West Hartford Officers Justified In 2009 Fatal Shooting: State Report

EAST HARTFORD, CT — More than 17 years after three police officers opened fire on an armed man in the woods behind his East Hartford home, Connecticut's inspector general has concluded the officers were justified in using deadly force.

Inspector General Eliot D. Prescott issued the report Tuesday, Sept. 22, reviewing the May 24, 2009, death of 52-year-old Robert J. Gilbert.

Two East Hartford officers and one West Hartford officer fired at Gilbert after he raised a shotgun toward police, according to the report.

The unusually delayed review occurred after the Office of Inspector General discovered that a final report on the shooting apparently was never prepared or filed by the Hartford State's Attorney's Office, despite a Connecticut State Police investigation that was essentially completed in January 2010.

Gilbert's widow was also never notified of a final determination about whether the officers' use of force was justified, according to Prescott.

The OIG ultimately located the original State Police evidence casebook at the East Hartford Police Department.

After determining in April that no final report had been prepared, Prescott notified Chief State's Attorney Patrick J. Griffin, who requested that the OIG investigate the case and issue a report.

According to the report, East Hartford police were called to Gilbert's Long Hill Street home at about 1:35 p.m. May 24, 2009, after his estranged wife told police he was suicidal and possibly armed.

Officers eventually located Gilbert about 50 yards behind his residence in a wooded area.

He was carrying a shotgun and had already suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his face, according to investigators.

Six East Hartford officers and two West Hartford officers took cover. Police repeatedly ordered Gilbert to drop the weapon, but he instead raised it toward officers, the report said.

East Hartford officers Keith Ledoux and Frederick Paquette and West Hartford Officer Eric Rocheleau then fired their weapons.

Ledoux fired three rounds from his M-4 rifle, with the third striking Gilbert in the abdomen.

Paquette fired two rounds from his handgun, while Rocheleau fired at least eight rounds from his handgun, according to the investigation.

Police then approached Gilbert and provided aid.

He was taken to Hartford Hospital, where he died later that day.

Investigators determined he died from a combination of his self-inflicted facial gunshot wound and the abdominal wound caused by Ledoux's rifle.

The state medical examiner classified Gilbert's cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds and the manner of death as homicide, though the report noted the medical examiner did not specify whether either wound independently caused his death.

Prescott found the three officers reasonably believed Gilbert posed an imminent threat when he raised the shotgun and advanced toward them.

Investigators later determined the shotgun was not loaded, but Prescott said the officers could not have known that at the time.

"After considering all available evidence, I conclude that all three officers held an objectively reasonable belief that deadly force was necessary to defend themselves and their fellow officers from the use of deadly force by Gilbert," Prescott wrote.

He concluded Ledoux, Paquette, and Rocheleau were each legally justified in using deadly force and said his office would take no further action in the case.

For the complete state report on the 2009 incident, click on this link.