State Attorney Rules on Officer-Involved Shooting in Norwalk

The State’s Attorney for the Judicial District of Stamford/Norwalk has concluded that a State Police trooper was justified in using deadly force to kill a man who assaulted multiple people on a bus on I-95 last year.

The incident occurred on Oct. 14, 2014 on I-95 in Norwalk.

The bus was heading from Chinatown in New York City to the Mohegan Sun casino. Hua Jian Ye along with 19 other passengers and the driver were aboard.

Hua Jian Ye was being disruptive on the bus and passengers expressed displeasure, according to the report. He slashed a female passenger in the face with a box cutter.

The driver pulled over in a construction zone where Trooper Marc Omara was stationed to provide traffic control.

A witness who spoke English began explaining the incident to Omara and Omara began to approach the bus after learning a woman was being assaulted with a knife.

The bus driver opened the door and Ye and a man who was trying to stop the assault fell out.

Omara ordered Ye to drop the knife, but Ye kept lunging toward the male victim. Omara fired his weapon, which hit the male victim and possibly Ye.

The victim rolled out of the way and Omara again commanded Ye to drop the knife. Instead Ye lunged at Omara, prompting Omara to fire more shots.

Ye then began to get up again while armed with the box cutter, prompting Omara to fire two more rounds.

Ye then began scraping at his own eye with the box cutter.

Eventually other troopers and Norwalk Police arrived and helped detain Ye, who was still struggling with police.

Omara fired his weapon a total of 11 times. The male victim was hit once and Ye was hit six times.

Ye had an elevated blood-alcohol level of .014 and there was no evidence of existing medical or psychological conditions. Ye is believed to have only spoken Chinese and investigators were unable to determine if he understood Omara’s commands.

Several witnesses corroborated the events, according to the report.