The Connecticut Office of Inspector General has ruled that a police officer was justified when he shot and killed a man in Colchester in April 2024 after the man emerged from a basement door and pointed a shotgun at him.
The investigation concluded that it was "objectively reasonable" for Officer Kiruluss Wassef of the Colchester Police Department to fire at 33-year-old Jared Michael Billard, who died after being rushed to a hospital on April 18, 2024, according to a report released Wednesday from Inspector General Eliot Prescott.
"Wassef subjectively and honestly believed that the use of deadly physical force was necessary to defend himself from death or serious physical harm," Prescott wrote. "Under these circumstances, it was objectively reasonable for Wassef to believe that he was facing the imminent use of deadly force."
According to the report, Wassef and Officers Bryan Kowalsky and John Zavalick responded just before 6:20 p.m. to 759 Norwich Ave. on the report of a possible disturbance and were told by a second-floor tenant that their landlord, identified as Billard, had been acting erratically since earlier the day.
The tenant told authorities Billard appeared drunk as early as 2 p.m. that day, when he saw him taking pictures of himself and his Jeep, which was parked on the lawn, the report said. The man said Billard was unbalanced and "very vocal."
The man said he left the home to run errands and, when he returned, found Billard arguing with another resident of the home over whether he should be driving, according to the report. Billard appeared to have driven into a wooden beam, the tenant told investigators.
Sometime thereafter, Billard reportedly put some food on a grill and went into the basement, the report said. The tenant found flames coming through the bottom and the cover of the grill, which was under the deck of the home, according to the report. He disconnected the propane and was helped by another resident of the home in moving the grill away from the house.
Around 5:20 p.m., Billard then came back outside and started grilling again, acting confrontational, the report said. Shortly thereafter, Billard reportedly asked someone for a cigarette and told him "I could destroy you," according to the report.
The tenant told investigators Billard went back into the home and grabbed him by the neck, telling him "you're not going to tell me how to run my (expletive) house or my life," according to the report. The man said he called police when Billard threw the grill on the deck, the report said. He said he could hear Billard in the basement yelling and throwing things before police arrived.
The tenant said he told arriving officers that Billard appeared intoxicated and was possibly armed with knives, the report said. He directed police to the basement where Zavalick and Wassef began speaking with Billard behind a closed door, according to body camera footage from the officers and Prescott's report. Zavalick could be seen in the footage removing what appeared to be a knife wedged partially into the door.
According to Prescott's report, police also found a hatchet on the floor and blood on a washing machine. Billard told police to leave, but the officers told him they had to investigate what was going on.
"No, you need to investigate the (expletive) off," Billard said, the footage shows. "Get out of my property right now."
After about 30 seconds of a back-and-forth, police can hear what they said sounded like a gun racking.
"Go, go, go now," Billard could be heard yelling, the footage shows. "Go (expletive) now (expletive)."
"Do not tempt me," Billard said, as an officer yells for him to drop the gun.
"Here we go," Billard shouts moments before the shooting, according to the footage. "This is you, this ain't me."
Wassef tells Billard to stay in the room just before he could be heard shouting "Here we go" once more. He then can be seen in the footage emerging from behind the door with a long gun pointed at Wassef. Wassef fired one round at his chest before retreating out of the basement hatchway for a few moments, the footage shows.
One of the officers calls out on the radio "shots fired, shots fired, shots fired" before Wassef checks on Zavalick, who tells him "he's down," the footage shows.
Billard was given medical attention by police before being brought to Backus Hospital in Norwich, where he was later pronounced dead. An autopsy later found he died of a gunshot wound of the trunk with an injury to his lung. His death was ruled a homicide.
Police later seized a shotgun that was found near Billard after the shooting.
In Prescott's analysis of the shooting, he said that the situation escalated rapidly, noting that within 40 seconds of engaging with Billard they could hear him rack a shotgun before he pointed it at Wassef. Prescott noted that, although Wassef was in a position of cover, he was "directly exposed" to Billard and the gun he had.
"Another officer in the same position would certainly draw the same conclusion," Prescott said of Wassef's decision to fire his weapon.
Prescott also noted that police attempted to deescalate the situation and that "none of their conduct precipitated Billard's actions."
According to the report, a tenant of the home told investigators that Billard lived on the first floor along with two other tenants. He said Billard suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder after serving as a machine gunner in the Army where his hummer was blown up, the report said.
The tenant also told authorities Billard rarely left the home and that, if he did, it was usually at night when he was intoxicated and would throw knives at his shed, according to the report.
According to Prescott, a toxicology report showed that Billard's blood alcohol content was 0.199. The report also showed that he had THC -- the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana -- and flubromazepam in his blood. Flubromazepam was described in the report as a "designer benzodiazepine that is not available legally in the United States."