BY BRUNO MATARAZZO JR.
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY — A Naugatuck police officer assigned to the Connecticut State Police Violent Crimes Task Force is recovering after being grazed by a bullet Nov. 16 in Waterbury.
The injured officer and another police officer were in a vehicle conducting surveillance on Chase Parkway near the Interstate 84 entrance ramp when the shooting occurred at 10:08 p.m.
The officers were shot at by a suspect or suspects in another unknown vehicle, which then fled from the area, Waterbury police Lt. Ryan Bessette said. One of the officers inside the vehicle that was struck sustained a graze gunshot wound and is being treated at a local hospital for what is considered to be a minor injury.
The violent crime task force is a collaborative law enforcement group with the Connecticut State Police and police departments in Waterbury, Shelton, Wolcott, Watertown and Naugatuck.
“(They were) operating an undercover surveillance investigation here in the city. At some point, shortly after 10 p.m. an unknown vehicle fired upon one of our undercover cars with two police officers in it. More than one shot was fired or multiple shots were fired at the police car,” Police Chief Fernando C. Spagnolo said during a news conference outside the police station Thursday morning.
Spagnolo said the undercover car was struck and the driver of the car was grazed in the right shoulder. The driver is a Naugatuck police officer and the chief said they are not identifying him at this point.
The injured officer was taken to Waterbury Hospital and treated and released.
“This is a very very active investigation and currently ongoing. We have members of the state police in town with us today,” Spagnolo said.
Federal law enforcement is also enroute to assist.
Details including a description of the shooter’s vehicle were not immediately available.
The shooting happened about 12 miles from Bristol, where two police officers were shot to death and a third was wounded in an apparent ambush last month. The suspect in the Oct. 12 Bristol shooting, Nicholas Brutcher, was fatally shot by police.
Anyone has any information they are requested to contact the Waterbury PD Detective Bureau at 203-574-6941 or Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 203-755-1234.
