Videos Show Fatal Cop-Shooting Scene

5:30 a.m. at the Mill River Crossing housing complex. Police enter an apartment with a key. ​“My baby!” a woman cries out. Gunshots ring out. A 35-year-old man is killed, two cops injured. 

That scene is depicted in videos and a ​“preliminary report” released Monday by the state Office of Inspector General.

Inspector General Robert J. Delvin released the documents regarding a Jan. 29 early-morning shoot-out that left 35-year-old Aaron Freeman dead and two West Haven police officers injured. An officer — it’s unclear yet which one — killed Freeman, after Freeman allegedly shot first.

The report summarizes initial police reports and releases body-worn camera footage. The Office of Inspector General is still investigating the use of deadly force by the West Haven Police Department and a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Task Force in the incident.

The day of the shooting, the Independent spoke with Mill River Crossing residents, who said the raid and shoot-out were ​“stressful” and expressed frustration over not yet knowing more information. 

Referencing initial police reports, the newly released account states that at around 5:30 a.m., West Haven and task force officers arrived at the Mill River Crossing apartment, located at 719 Grand Ave., to execute a search and seizure warrant. The apartment is a two-story, townhouse style apartment, and officers assembled outside, knocked on the door and announced themselves. 

West Haven Officer Robert Rappa’s body-worn camera footage shows police opening the door with a key and immediately entering a common area and a hallway, at the end of which they encounter an adult woman. She exclaims and retreats into a room, before officers tell her to ​“come out, come out.” She does, and they offer her a robe.

“My baby, my baby!,” the woman calls out while officers begin to yell at Freeman, who is in the first-floor bedroom, ​“Come out! We saw you tuck into the room. Come out.”

(The day of the shooting, New Haven Police Chief Karl Jacobson stated that the apartment was being rented by a 32-year-old woman who appeared to be in a relationship with Freeman. Jacobson confirmed that she was present at the time of the shoot-out, as well as an 8‑year-old girl and a 52-year-old grandfather.)

In the video footage, West Haven Officer Rappa is seen pulling the woman away from the bedroom door — as she continues to call out, ​“My baby!” — while nearing it himself, as Freeman stands in the doorway, partially covered by the door. 

To Freeman, Rappa says, ​“Show me your hands!” One of Rappa’s hands is holding his gun. The other is outstretched to the door.

“What’s your problem?” Freeman says.

Rappa begins to push the door open wider, there’s movement, and a shot is fired. Rappa cries out. 

The initial police reports state that a bullet struck Rappa in the calf. His body-worn camera footage shows Rappa retreating to the bathroom, where three shots can be heard going off while the woman screams and an officer says, ​“Shots fired, shots fired!” There’s more yelling, another shot, someone says ​“OK, OK,” and a child is crying. 

Waterbury Police Officer assigned to the DEA Task Force Martin Scanlon ​“took cover in the stairwell leading to the second floor,” police reports state, and shots were fired between Scanlon and Freeman. Then, the gunfire from the bedroom stopped, according to those reports.

Scanlon’s body-worn camera footage shows him moving up the stairs, as a man seemingly on the second floor yells, ​“This is my granddaughter!”

The second clip of Scanlon’s body-worn camera footage shows him saying ​“stay here” and calling out ​“Aaron!” before another shot is fired, someone yells ​“Fuck!” and another officer says ​“Shots fired, shots fired.”

The third clip begins with officers calling out to each other: ​“It’s the front room … room opens to the right … we got blood on the floor to the right …” It seems to be after the arrival of the West Haven Police Department Special Response Team (SRT). The SRT, including West Haven Police Sergeant Joseph Riehl, entered the apartment with safety shields. 

“Target shot from the right side of the room,” Scanlon says. An officer asks where Scanlon is, and from his spot in the stairwell, Scanlon says that he’s by the front door. He says, ​“That’s the room right there.”

“Marty, get out of here when you can,” an officer says.

Then Scanlon yells before multiple shots are fired and he retreats upstairs. The released body-worn camera footage for Scanlon ends there.

Riehl’s body-worn camera footage, although largely blocked by his safety shield, indicates that this is the moment Riehl is shot. Police reports state that as Riehl continued toward ​“Freeman’s bedroom,” a bullet fired by Freeman through the bedroom wall struck him in the upper leg. The sergeant returned fire.

“The Connecticut State Police Central District Major Crime Squad recovered a firearm near Freeman’s body,” the Office of Inspector General report states. 

On Jan. 30, the day after his death, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy of Freeman. His cause of death was determined to be ​“Homicide” by way of ​“GUNSHOT WOUNDS OF TORSO AND EXTREMITIES.” As of Monday, neither the death certificate nor toxicology results are available.

The Office of Inspector General, West Haven Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, New Haven Police Department, Waterbury Police Department and New Haven Judicial District State’s Attorney’s Office are conducting the investigation.

The two wounded officers, Rappa and Riehl, were involved in two previous use-of-force incidents, including the killing of Mubarak Soulemane, according to this article by Hearst’s Liz Hardaway.

Warning: Body camera footage might be disturbing for some viewers.