Man Killed in Police Shooting Had Hate Crime History: Report

DANBURY, CT — A man with a history of violence and hate crimes has been identified as the person shot and killed by a Danbury police officer over the weekend.

The state police are identifying Paul Arbitelle as the man who was shot by police and died at Danbury Hospital after a fracas at the Glen apartment complex on Memorial Drive on Saturday night.

Police responded to a report of a "suspicious male"on the premises, according to a state police report. The knife-wielding man was shot by police when a taser proved "ineffective," the state police said in a release. The officer involved in the shooting was in "imminent, life-threatening danger and acted in self-defense" according to a release later issued by the Danbury Police Department.

Public records indicate that Arbitelle's mother, Linda, resides at 73 Memorial Drive. A spokesperson for the state medical examiner's office told Danbury Patch that Paul Arbitelle died on Saturday night as a result of "homicide gunshot wounds to the torso and extremities."

According to court records, Arbitelle was found guilty in 2010 of interfering with an officer and resisting arrest.

In 2011, Arbitelle did prison time after being charged with breach of peace, third-degree assault, threatening, interfering with a police officer, intimidation based on race or bigotry and deprivation of rights. Police said Arbitelle was highly intoxicated, and that he kept yelling racial epithets while they tried to subdue him.

In 2012, Arbitelle was arrested and found guilty of assaulting an EMT. In 2016, he was charged with interfering with an officer, threatening and assault on a public safety official with a dangerous weapon.

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Arbitelle has not been officially identified as the knife-wielding assailant by the Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Unit which is overseeing the investigation.

"We are working with state's attorney general's office to determine exactly when more information can be released," Trooper Josue Dorelus from the State Police's Public Information Office told Patch.