Hartford’s mayor has fired an officer who shot a man in a mental health crisis after calling for justice

The Hartford Police Department officer who fatally shot Steven Jones during a mental health call in February has been fired.

Officer Joseph Magnano was terminated based on “the grounds of his performance” when he responded to the call on February 27 and fired nine shots at Jones, who died the next day, Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam announced Friday.

“In the body-worn camera footage of the incident, as well as the publicly shared video, I saw three officers working together as a team to defuse a mental health crisis in a way that exemplifies the best of our police department,” Arulampalam said in a statement. “Officer Magnano’s actions did not meet that standard.”

While the Connecticut Inspector General’s Office is still investigating the shooting to determine whether Magnano’s use of deadly force is justified under state law, Arulampalam said his office is “doing its own efforts to identify a course of response.” He described the footage of the shooting as “deep about”.

Hartford police bodycam footage shows a man shot nine times after a mental health call

“The firing of Mr. Magnano is a stunning act of cynicism by the city,” Attorney Norm Pattis, who represents Magnano, said in an email to the Courant. “He acted as he was trained to act. Firing him for putting his life on the line and acting consistent with his training is no justification for firing him and an insult to every officer risking his life every day. We will file a lawsuit against the city next week. Since when does the city manage its department at the whim of the likes of Al Sharpton and Ben Crump? Seriously?”

The firing comes just a day after Jones, 55, was laid to rest at The First Cathedral in Bloomfield where civil rights and social justice activist Rev. Al Sharpton and nationally known civil rights attorney Ben Crump were critical of Magnano’s actions and called city officials to do something. Sharpton delivered the eulogy, while Crump represented the Jones family.

Arulampalam’s announcement also came the same week his city address was disrupted by protesters demanding the shooting of Magnano and the officer-involved shooting death of 53-year-old Everard Walker, who was killed during a mental health call just eight days before Jones was shot.

“In my state of the city address earlier this week, I spoke of the pain our community is feeling and promised that we will not stand still,” Arulampalam said. “I recognize that the past four weeks since the incident started has been a long, difficult, and often frustrating time for our community. Although the public may not see everything that happened in the city hall, please know that I have been thinking about this tragedy and worked every day for the past four weeks to bring a resolution to this situation.”

The president of the Hartford Police Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Hartford police Chief James Rovella also did not immediately issue a comment.

Pastor Al Sharpton joins cries for justice at funeral for CT man fatally shot on mental health call

A preliminary report released by Connecticut Inspector General Eliot Prescott said Jones’ sister called 911 around 11 a.m. and said Jones was armed with a knife, had cut himself and was experiencing a mental health crisis. The first officers on the scene encountered Jones in front of the house on Blue Hills Avenue. He began walking toward officers on the street with a knife in his hand, body camera footage shows.

The officer was able to keep a distance between himself and Jones, while Jones’ sister could be heard screaming and begging the police not to shoot him, according to the footage. The officer assured himself he would not shoot Jones and unsuccessfully tried to use a Taser on him.

Even as Jones advanced toward the officer and two other officers who responded as backup, refusing to obey multiple commands to drop the blade, police were able to form a circle around him at one point with their guns drawn, the footage shows. Jones at that point appears to have given up on his advances to the police and mostly stopped his movements while standing in the street.

Magnano was the fourth officer to arrive on the scene. He immediately approached Jones and another officer and began yelling for Jones to drop the knife, according to body camera footage. Jones then began walking toward Magnano, who backed into the intersection, made several calls for him to drop the blade and told Jones he was going to be shot, the footage shows.

Less than 40 seconds after arriving on the scene, Magnano fired nine shots at Jones. Jones was rushed to the hospital, where he died on March 3.

The shooting came less than a week after Walker’s family called 211 and said he was experiencing mental health issues in his Capitol Avenue apartment. Two social workers called for a police response before spending nearly an hour trying to talk Walker through his apartment door.

Walker was shot and killed by Officer Alexander Clifford when the scuffle led to the police falling back, at which point Walker raised a knife, Prescott wrote in his preliminary report. According to Prescott, Walker appeared intent on stabbing the police before he was shot.

Both shootings remain under investigation by Prescott’s office and have drawn criticism and sparked calls for police accountability.