Drug Suspect Wounded in Officer-Involved Shooting in Hartford

HARTFORD, CT — An officer-involved shooting took place late Wednesday morning during a narcotics-related investigation in the area of Collins Street, according to Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley.

The Hartford Police Department Vice & Narcotics Division was in the area conducting an investigation into a recent narcotics-related homicide on Huntington Street. Several federal D.E.A. Drug Enforcement agents and task force officers were assisting Hartford police, Foley said.

Investigators observed a hand-to-hand transaction between a buyer and a seller. Detectives approached the buyer as he left the area, and found him in possession of heroin. The investigators then converged on the seller, who was in a car. Detectives attempted a motor vehicle stop in the area of Sigourney Street and Asylum Avenue, but the seller attempted to flee the area by driving onto the public sidewalk towards the investigators, Foley said.

A DEA Task Force officer fired twice at the vehicle, striking the operator. The vehicle then fled the area onto Sigourney Street and west on Asylum Street before crashing into a parked unoccupied vehicle in the area of 1000 Asylum Avenue. The suspect was then taken into custody and transported to St. Francis Hospital, where he was listed in stable condition with a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his right arm, Foley said.

No Hartford police officer fired any shots, Foley said, but two officers were treated for minor injuries and released.

Hartford Police Department Command Staff, Major Crimes, and the Chief State's Attorney's Office were all notified and responded. The Connecticut State’s Attorney’s Office has assumed the investigation externally, Foley said.

Photo credit: Hartford Police Department

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