HARTFORD, Conn. — According to a report revealed Wednesday by the state’s Inspector General, the gunman probably killed two police officers in an ambush because he was angry with police earlier and his personal problems were getting worse. He was also abusing drugs and alcohol.
The report that talked about how Sgt. Dustin DeMonte and Officer Alex Hamzy were shot and killed in the driveway of a house also said that a third officer who survived the attack in 2022 had every right to kill the gunman, who police named as Nicholas Brutcher.
Inspector General Robert Devlin’s review, which is required by law in cases of deadly force, shows that Brutcher’s life was getting worse because he was in a lot of debt, his ex-wife was pregnant with a friend of hers, and his mother had scolded him after a traffic stop that evening.
Still, it said, “It must be emphasized that Nicholas Brutcher is the murderer here.” “It would be wrong to blame the police officers who stopped Nicholas Brutcher for the attack or anyone else in his life.”
The report said that Brutcher lied when he called 911 on the night of Oct. 12, 2022, to ask for help with his brother, saying that he had been acting violently since they were pulled over for speeding after a fight at a bar earlier that night.
When DeMonte, Hamzy, and Officer Alec Iurato went to Brutcher’s house in reaction to the call, Brutcher shot all three of them from a hiding place in the bushes in front of his parents’ house next door, having used an AR-15-style rifle. He then put on a camouflage shirt, pants, and jacket, stood over DeMonte and Hamzy where they had fallen, and fired dozens more shots at them in front of his parents, Joseph and Catrina Brutcher, who were shocked and came outside.
“Are you so proud of me?” “How proud are you?” The story says that Brutcher may have been talking to his parents as he fired.
Constant screams from his mother were caught on police body camera video.
Catrina Brutcher told police, “I am not sure I have ever screamed like that in my life.” “My son walked up to a police officer who was on the ground and shot him in the head.” I was telling him to stop yelling.
Joseph Brutcher said that his son seemed to be “in a trance.”
Iurato was hit in the leg but was able to get away. The report said that he leaned against a police car and fired one shot, hitting Brutcher and killing him.
Friends and family said that Brutcher had talked about suicide in the past few months. They said that he used a morbid part of himself in a stand-up comedy act that one friend described as “dark and tasteless.”
The report said, “He made jokes about dead babies, suicide, and people who were disabled.”
The night began at a bar where Brutcher was supposed to perform at an open-mic night, but instead he got into a fight with a customer while drunk, which caused the manager to call the police, according to the report.
When Nicholas Brutcher and his brother Nathan left the bar, police stopped their truck and had it towed because Nicholas was too drunk to drive and Nathan’s license had passed. Their mom was called to come get them. The report said that when she scolded Nicholas at the scene, he was being rude, which made him feel bad.
Catrina Brutcher said, “I told him that I felt bad about it.” “I told Nick, ‘You’re making your family look bad; you’re making our name look bad.'”
The police decided there wasn’t enough proof to charge Nathan Brutcher, who was hit in the first round of gunshots.
The report said that Nicholas Brutcher shot 83 rounds, 59 from an assault rifle and 24 from a 9 mm handgun.
“24 shots were fired at Officer Hamzy.” It said, “Sergeant DeMonte was hit six times.”
Report says Brutcher had 14 listed guns, one of which was an assault weapon that is now illegal in Connecticut. Since he bought the gun in 2010, he was grandfathered in under the law. However, there is no record of him applying for the needed certificate of possession or the large capacity magazines he had on hand.
Intoxicology tests showed that his blood alcohol level of.234 was about three times the legal limit to drive.
Based on what was found on his phone, Brutcher was in a “toxic” relationship with a woman who told him the day of the attack that she might be pregnant. The phone records also showed that he had gotten another woman pregnant. The baby was due in October 2022, which is close to the time of the shooting, the story said.
The report said, “Analysis of Nicholas Brutcher’s phone, interviews with family and friends, and a full review of all the evidence collected gave insight into the stressful events in Nicholas Brutcher’s life that likely led to the ambush attack on officers.”
DeMonte, 35, had been an officer for 10 years and shared the 2019 Officer of the Year award with another cop in his department. When he died, his wife was about to have their third child.
Hamzy, who is 34 years old, worked for eight years for the police department in his city. He worked with a police training program like DeMonte did.
