Ariela Lopez, Contributing Photographer

Two New Haven officers and one state police officer opened fire on and killed a man at a gas station on Route 1 just outside of New Haven city limits on Thursday evening. 

Jebrell Conley, 36, was being followed by three officers who were part of an eleven-member contingent of the New Haven Violent Crimes Task Force. The task force was dispatched to follow Conley after they were notified of an outstanding warrant for his arrest under federal armed robbery charges, according to the preliminary status report released on Monday by the Connecticut Office of the Inspector General. Body camera footage shows that after determining Conley to be armed, the officers fired at least 16 shots at Conley, who was transported to Yale-New Haven Hospital and pronounced dead.

At a Monday press conference after the preliminary status report was published, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker and New Haven Police Department Chief Karl Jacobson both stated that they believed the two NHPD officers who shot Conley acted with “appropriate force.”

“I’m not an expert, I’m not a police officer,” Elicker said at the press conference, “but it appears to me that Mr. Conley fired first. It appears that the officers’ lives were in danger. No officer wants this to happen.”

According to Jacobson, Conley’s killing marks the NHPD’s first officer-involved shooting resulting in a civilian death since November 2004.

After tracking Conley’s car, the eleven task force officers — seven NHPD officers, two state police officers and two officers from neighboring towns’ police departments — approached Conley at the Splash Car Wash as he was refilling his gas tank, leading Conley to get in his car. 

“Conley entered the vehicle while officers were ordering him out of the car at gunpoint,” Jacobson said. “He put his vehicle in reverse and struck a police car which was directly behind him.”

In the body camera footage, officers are heard yelling at Conley to “get out of the car,” “let me see your hands” and “don’t you fucking move.”

Jacobson said that Conley then pointed a gun at the officers.

The published preliminary status report does not mention that Conley hit a police vehicle or that he pointed a weapon at officers.

The footage shows the glass of the driver’s seat window shattering. The status report states that Conley “appeared to fire one round” at the glass. Conley’s weapon is visible in three still shots from Officer Paul Vakos’ body camera footage, which are included in the report.

In the ensuing shootout, NHPD Sergeant Francisco Sanchez, Officer Michael Valente and Connecticut State Police Sergeant Colin Richter opened fire on Conley. Body camera footage from Valente, Sanchez and Richter records at least sixteen shots fired toward Conley. 

NHPD’s Jacobson emphasized at the press conference that the body camera footage shows that Conley fired first.

Conley received medical attention on scene before being transported by the New Haven Fire Department to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where a medical examiner determined that he was killed by gunshot wounds to his torso and “upper right extremity.”

According to Jacobson, Conley was a “known member” of the Grape Street Crips, the New Haven-based imitation of a Los Angeles gang. He was previously sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2016. Following the shooting, the NHPD heard of threats of gang retaliation against officers, leading the department to patrol in pairs as a precautionary measure.

“We have since come to the conclusion that this may have only been rhetoric,” Jacobson said. “We don’t have anything to back it up.”

After Monday night, the department will revert to single-officer cars. Jacobson said that he spoke with Conley’s mother and brother, who assured him that there was “no message” to hurt officers.

Sanchez and Valente, the two NHPD officers, were placed on paid administrative leave, Jacobson said.

Christian Bruckhart, the NHPD’s public information officer, told the News that the department expects to receive a preliminary investigation report from the inspector general’s office in around one month. Depending on the contents of the investigation in progress, Jacobson may then decide to reinstate the officers.

However, if the investigation finds that there are grounds to further penalize the officers, that will not happen until after the investigation is completed. Jacobson estimated that the probe could take nine months to a year.

Angel Hubbard, the newly sworn-in alder for the Hill North neighborhood, knows Conley’s family and told the News that Conley — though not a resident of her district — had roots in the Hill.

“It’s a tragic situation for both parties,” Hubbard told the News after her swearing-in ceremony at City Hall, hours before the status report was released. “He lost his life,” she said, while also noting that the officers were “trying to do their job.”

The inspector general’s preliminary status report published body camera footage from five officers, as well as a vertical video shot by a civilian sitting in a car near Conley’s. 

Splash Car Wash is located at 2 Boston Post Rd.

Correction, Sept 24: This story has been updated with the correct spelling of Jebrell Conley’s name.