HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Connecticut’s inspector general has ruled that a Hartford police officer was justified in shooting to death an armed man despite a plea from the man’s girlfriend not to kill him.
Shamar Ogman was shot to death on Dec. 26, 2020, in a parking lot after ignoring commands to drop a rifle that he pointed at officers, according to the report released Wednesday.
A recording from a body camera confirmed that Officer Ashley Martinez fired one shot that struck Ogman shortly after telling other officers, “He’s pointing it.”
“Officer Martinez heard Ogman rack his rifle and observed him raise it and point it in the direction of other police officers,” Inspector General Robert Devlin Jr. wrote. “She actually believed that Ogman was about to use deadly force that could result in an officer sustaining serious physical injury or death. Such actual belief was not exaggerated or unfounded and a reasonable police officer, viewing the circumstances from Martinez’s point of view, would have shared that belief.”
In a phone call with police, Ogman’s girlfriend had reported that he was at her home in a rage and was armed.
“I know that he’s under a lot of stress. ... Please don’t kill ... please tell the officers not to kill my daughter’s father. Please. Please,” she told the dispatcher.
The dispatcher responded, “Obviously that’s not what they want to happen.”
A short time later, after a foot chase, Ogman went behind a trash bin in the parking lot where the confrontation with police ensued.
Ogman had dropped a handgun, but did not drop the rifle, police said.
