The inspector general has determined that a police officer’s use of deadly force during a shooting in Hartford in December 2020 was justified.
Police identified the man as 30-year-old Shamar Ogman and released body camera footage of the police response.
At one point in the video, it appeared Ogman was standing behind a trash receptacle and officers could be heard commenting that he was pointing the gun at them.
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A gunshot was heard and Ogman was slumped over the trash bin before the video cut out.
Police identified the officer who shot her weapon as Ashley Martinez and said she fired her service weapon once, striking Ogman.
He was transported to Hartford Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition and later died, according to police.
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Inspector Robert Devlin said in the report that Officer Martinez used deadly force to defend other officers from what she reasonably believed to be the imminent use of deadly force against them and found such use of force to be objectively reasonable and justified.
“Officer Martinez heard Ogman rack his rifle and observed him raise it and point it in the direction of other police officers. She actually believed that Ogman was about to use deadly force that could result in an officer sustaining serious physical injury or death. Such actual belief was not exaggerated or unfounded and a reasonable police officer, viewing the circumstances from Martinez’s point of view, would have shared that belief,” the report says.
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