Fatal Hartford Police Shooting Video Released

HARTFORD, CT — The Tolland State Attorney's Office have released body-cam video from three Hartford officers who were involved in a fatal shooting Friday night.

Alphonso Zaporta, 41, of Windsor, was shot and killed during a traffic stop on an entrance ramp to I-84. The officers had tried to stop his car on a city street before it entered the highway, but were unable to do so. When the car got caught in construction traffic on the highway, officers were able to disable it using stop sticks.

As officers approached the car, Zaporta opened his door, state police said. But then he lunged toward one officer, and in the struggle that followed he got control of the officer's gun.

The officer can be heard on the video saying, "He's got my gun." Another officer is heard warning Zaporta, "You are going to get shot, bro," and then several shots can be heard.

Hartford Detective Zack Sherry, a 14-year veteran who fired the shots, has been placed on leave, under department policy. He is assigned to the vice/intelligence/narcotics division and the United States Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force.

Police said they found a loaded 9mm pistol that had been reported stolen from Springfield, Mass. in the car.

In Connecticut, State Police investigate officer-involved shootings and then turn over evidence and their findings to the state attorney's office. If the shooting is fatal, a state attorney's office from another jurisdiction handles the matter.

Connecticut has had several high-profile shootings involving officers this year. In April, a 22-year-old woman was injured during a police shooting in New Haven that involved officers from the Yale University and Hamden police departments. In that incident, the Yale officer's cruiser camera and body camera weren't operating and the Hamden officer's body camera was turned on after the incident began to unfold.

State Police are also investigating a fatal officer-involved shooting that occurred during April in Wethersfield.

The Tolland state attorney's office released the Zaporta video Monday, just days after the shooting, instead of the weeks or months typical in such cases.

"The video has been edited out of respect for Mr. Zaporta and his family, but the material being released does capture the portions of the incident pertinent to the investigation into the use of deadly force," the office said in a statement. "It also must be noted that the operating system utilized by the body cameras worn by Hartford police allows no recall of audio for the first one minute of each video recording."

Warning: The video below, which combines footage from several cameras, is graphic. Around the 3:15 mark is when Zaporta gets out of his car.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin had previously urged the state attorney's office to release video footage and additional information as soon as possible.

"Video footage is only one part of the investigation, but from what I saw, this was an extremely dangerous situation," Bronin said in a statement Saturday. "Any loss of life in our community is a tragedy, for our community and for the family and loved ones directly affected by that loss. From the videos I have seen, I believe that it is clear that the officers had very real reason to fear for their lives. I am thankful that no officers were injured or killed last night."

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Connecticut State Police Eastern District Major Crime Squad at 860-896-3230.