WARNING: GRAVITY IMAGES
A Connecticut man caught in a downward spiral of personal failings and drug and alcohol abuse shot and killed two police officers in a horrific ambush attack in 2022, according to a report released by the state’s inspector general.
Suspect Nicholas Blucher shot and killed Bristol Police Sergeant Dustin Demonte and Officer Alex Hamzy in the driveway of his home after responding to a 911 call.
He was upset about being pulled over for a traffic violation a few hours earlier and the subsequent scolding he received from his mother over the encounter with police.
A third officer, who shot and killed Blucher at the scene, was also struck by a hail of bullets.
Suspect in Bristol, Connecticut police ambush was Facebook friends with officer accused of killing
Nicholas Blucher (left) executed Bristol Police Sergeant Dustin Demonte and Officer Alex Hamzy (bottom right) in October 2022. (Facebook/Bristol Police Station)
A report by Medical Examiner Robert Devlin, required in use of deadly force cases, found that at the time of the incident, Blucher was struggling with personal problems, including getting his ex-wife pregnant by a former friend.
“It must be emphasized that Blucher was a killer. It is wrong to blame the traffic officer or any other person in Nicholas Blucher’s life for this attack,” the report said.
Blucher and his brother were stopped by police after a fight at a bar on Oct. 12, 2022. The suspect was involved in an altercation with officers at the scene and then released.
A short time later, he called 911 to report that his brother was behaving aggressively and he needed help.
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At right, Officer Alec Iulato and Bristol Police Chief Brian Gould. (Bristol Police Department)
As Officers Demonte, Hamzy and Alec Iulato approached the door of his home, Blucher opened fire with an AR-15 while crouching in nearby bushes.
He continued firing, staring down at his victim, as his parents, Joseph and Katrina Blucher, looked on in shock.
“How proud of me? How proud of me?” Blucher said as he pulled the trigger. According to reports. Hamzy was hit a total of 24 times.
“I don’t think I’ve ever screamed like that in my life,” Katrina Blucher told investigators. “My son walked up to one of the officers that was down and shot him in the head at point-blank range. I was just yelling for him to stop.”
Two Bristol Police officers killed, one seriously injured in planned ambush
Nicholas Blucher poses with a dead deer. (Facebook)
Iulato was shot in the leg but was able to take cover behind a car and kill Blucher with one bullet.
Friends and relatives of Blucher told investigators that he had been feeling suicidal in the months before the murders.
On the night of the murder, police pulled over Blucher and his brother after a brawl at a bar and called their mother to pick them up, but she reprimanded Blucher at the scene.
“I was embarrassed, and I told him,” Katrina Blucher said. “I said, ‘Nick, you’re embarrassing our family, you’re embarrassing our name.’
Nicholas Blucher poses with his brother. (Facebook)
Analysis of Blucher’s mobile phone revealed that his ex-partner believed she was pregnant and that he too was soon to become a father.
He had repeatedly installed and uninstalled Grindr, a dating app for the LGBTQ community, and seemed to want to “keep this side of his life private.”
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“Analysis of Nicholas Blucher’s mobile phone, interviews with family and friends, and a comprehensive review of the evidence collected indicate that stressors in Nicholas Blucher’s life likely contributed to the ambush attack on the officers,” the report said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
