The Connecticut Office of Inspector General has ruled that a police officer was justified when he shot and killed a man in Colchester in April 2024 after the man emerged from a basement door and pointed a shotgun at him.

The investigation concluded that it was “objectively reasonable” for Officer Kiruluss Wassef of the Colchester Police Department to fire at 33-year-old Jared Michael Billard, who died after being rushed to a hospital on April 18, 2024, according to a report released Wednesday from Inspector General Eliot Prescott.

“Wassef subjectively and honestly believed that the use of deadly physical force was necessary to defend himself from death or serious physical harm,” Prescott wrote. “Under these circumstances, it was objectively reasonable for Wassef to believe that he wa

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