Man who killed two police officers in Connecticut likely motivated by previous interaction with police, report says

HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — The ambush killing of two police officers in Connecticut was likely triggered by an earlier angry confrontation between the gunman and police, as well as increasing pressure in his personal life and his alcohol and drug abuse, according to a report released Wednesday by the state’s inspector general.

The report, which details how Bristol police Sergeant Dustin DeMonte and Officer Alex Hamzy were gunned down in the driveway of a home, also says a third officer who survived the 2022 attack was justified in fatally shooting the gunman, identified by police as Nicholas Brutcher.

Inspector General Robert Devlin’s investigation – required by law in cases of deadly force – describes Brutcher in a downward spiral amid mounting debt, his ex-wife’s pregnancy with a former boyfriend and a scolding from his mother after a traffic stop that evening.

However, it must be emphasized that Nicholas Brutcher is the murderer in this case, it said. “It would be wrong to blame the traffic police or other people in Nicholas Brutcher’s life for the attack.”

Brutcher made a false call to 911 on the night of Oct. 12, 2022, asking for help for his brother, who he said had been acting aggressively since the two were stopped during a traffic stop earlier that evening following a bar fight, the report said.

As DeMonte, Hamzy and Officer Alec Iurato approached Brutcher’s home in response to the call, Brutcher opened fire with an AR-15 rifle from a hiding place in some bushes outside his parents’ house next door, hitting all three officers, according to the report. Dressed in a camouflage shirt, pants and vest, he then leaned over DeMonte and Hamzy where they had fallen and fired dozens more shots at them in front of his horrified parents, Joseph and Catrina Brutcher, who had come outside.

“How proud are you of me? How proud?” Brutcher said as he fired, possibly addressing his parents, according to the report.

His mother’s incessant screams were captured on police body camera video.

“I don’t think I’ve ever screamed like that in my life,” Catrina Brutcher told investigators. “My son walked up to one of the police officers who was on the ground and shot him in the head at point blank range. I just screamed at him to stop.”

Joseph Brutcher said his son was “in a kind of trance.”

Iurato, who was shot in the leg, managed to escape. He braced himself against a patrol car and fired a single shot that struck and killed Brutcher, the report said.

Friends and relatives said Brutcher had talked about suicide in recent months, describing a morbid side that found its way into a stand-up comedy act that one friend described as “dark and tasteless.”

“He told jokes about dead babies, suicide and disabled people,” the report said.

The evening began at a bar where Brutcher was scheduled to perform at an open mic forum, but instead he got into a drunken argument with a patron, prompting the bartender to call the police, according to the report.

After Brutcher and his brother Nathan left the bar, officers stopped their truck and had it towed. They said Nicholas Brutcher was too drunk to drive and Nathan Brutcher’s license was expired. Their mother was called to pick them up. At the scene, she cursed at the belligerent Nicholas, a reaction that likely humiliated him, the report said.

“I was embarrassed and I told him that,” Catrina Brutcher said. “I said, ‘Nick, you’re embarrassing your family; you’re embarrassing our name.'”

Authorities concluded there was insufficient evidence to bring charges against Nathan Brutcher, who was struck by the first gunshot wound.

Nicholas Brutcher fired a total of 83 shots: 59 with the assault rifle and 24 with a 9 mm pistol, the report said.

“24 shots hit Officer Hamzy. Six shots hit Sergeant DeMonte,” it said.

According to the report, Brutcher owned 14 registered firearms, including the assault weapon that is now banned in Connecticut. He purchased the weapon in 2010 and was grandfathered in under the law, but there is no record of him applying for a required certificate of ownership or displaying the high-capacity magazines in his possession.

His blood alcohol level was 0.234 per mille, about three times the legal limit for driving, as the toxicological results showed.

An analysis of his phone suggested Brutcher had a “toxic” relationship with a woman who told him on the day of the attack that she might be pregnant. Information on the phone also suggested he had impregnated another woman whose due date was in October 2022, around the time of the shooting, the report said.

“Analysis of Nicholas Brutcher’s phone, interviews with family/friends, and a comprehensive review of all evidence collected revealed the stressors in Nicholas Brutcher’s life that likely contributed to the attack on the officers,” the report said.

DeMonte, 35, had been on the force for 10 years and was honored as his department’s Officer of the Year in 2019. His wife was expecting their third child at the time of his death.

Hamzy, 34, worked for his hometown police department for eight years. Like DeMonte, he was an adviser to a police cadet program.

Iurato joined the Bristol division in 2018.

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Thompson reported from Buffalo, New York.