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WARNING: GRAPHIC
Behind a closed door, a man “acting erratically” is heard racking the slide of a pump-action shotgun in bodycam footage before bullrushing police with the gun pointed at them.
“Here we go. This is you. This ain’t me,” Jared Billard yelled before barging through the basement door of a Colchester, Connecticut, home on April 18.
Gunshots rang out. Billard was shot once in the chest, according to the Connecticut Inspector General, and the 33-year-old died in the hospital.
Before the fatal confrontation with police, Billard, who was a landlord, reportedly pushed the second-floor tenant and “displayed throwing knives,” the Inspector General said in the preliminary report.
The police tell him they can’t leave, and they need to talk. At this point, he’s still behind the door. The conversation is tense but not violent.
Then came the sound of the shotgun from behind the door, and the situation spiraled out of control.
Billard emerged “pointing the shotgun toward Officer Kiruluss Wassef who was standing at the bottom of the basement stairs.”
A gunshot rang out, as one officer ran up the basement steps and the other one took cover in the basement.
Police in Colchester, Connecticut, talk to Jared Billard, who was barricaded behind the door. (Connecticut Inspector General’s Office)
A nearby resident told Fox News Digital that Colchester isn’t a high-crime community, so the violent events were shocking.
“I’ve been skeptical of other departments, but our local police have been very involved in our community, responsive and all around good people.”
The officer-involved shooting remains under investigation by Office of Inspector General, the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Connecticut State Police and the New London Judicial District State’s Atorney’s Office.
Fox News Digital’s Julia Bonavita contributed to this report.
