Inspector General: Three New London officers shot at suspect
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Nov. 29—Three New London police officers shot at an armed 42-year-old suspect in a New London hotel room on Sunday, hitting him multiple times, the state Office of Inspector General revealed on Wednesday.
The officers involved were identified as Joseph Nott, Annie Agnew and Seth Bolduc.
The man who was shot was identified as 41-year-old Christopher D. Nolan, whose last known address was on Michael Road in New London. At the time of the shooting, Nolan was wanted for failing to appear in New London Superior Court on Nov. 16 for a pending drug possession and possession with intent to sell charges stemming from an arrest by New London police on Feb. 3.
Included in the information released by the Office of Inspector General on Wednesday is body camera footage of the shooting from the perspective of Officer Nott.
The office will eventually make a ruling about whether the shooting was justified.
At 1:52 p.m. on Sunday, New London police were called to Americas Best Value Inn at 380 Bayonet St. for reports of a gunshot. At the hotel, police spoke to a witness who reported that Nolan had fired a shot out of a hotel room window at an unidentified person, the inspector general's report states.
Police learned that Nolan fled to the nearby Clarion Inn Hotel, where police performed a room-by-room search. Police found Nolan in Room 221, where an occupant allowed police to enter, the reports states.
"Once inside, officers observed Nolan pressed against the window in an apparent effort to escape so as to elude arrest," the report states. "Officers observed a gun in Nolan's hand and when he turned toward them, Officer Joseph Nott, Officer Annie Agnew, and Officer Seth Bolduc fired their weapons. Nolan sustained multiple gunshot wounds," the inspector general's report states.
The Inspector General released short clips from body camera footage of the incident that shows officers entering the hotel room with guns drawn yelling, "Put your hands up!" and "Come here!" multiple times. There are multiple people in the hotel room, including a child who can be heard screaming. Nolan is obscured by sun in the video and it is unclear if he is holding a gun. There are multiple shots fired by police in rapid succession and Nolan can be seen collapsing near the windowsill.
Police said they recovered a revolver from the windowsill where Nolan was standing. The second body camera video footage released by the Office of Inspector General, which is five seconds long, shows police pointing to a handgun.
Nolan was initially taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital and later transferred to Yale New Haven Hospital. Nolan was listed in good condition on Wednesday, a spokesperson at the hospital said.
The Office of Inspector General is investigating the shooting with assistance from the state police Eastern District Major Crime Squad, New London Police Department and the New London County State's Attorney's Office.
In addition to his pending drug-related criminal criminal charges, court records show Nolan is charged with violation of probation. In 2018, Nolan was convicted of sale of narcotics and sentenced to 54 months in prison followed by three years of probation. His subsequent arrest in February was considered a violation of the conditions of his probation.
Bolduc is a three-year member of the police department who was hired in June 2020 and honored earlier this year for saving the life of a 17-year-old who had tried to commit suicide with a knife. Agnew was hired as a new recruit in 2021 and Nott was hired as a lateral transfer from an out-of-state police department in May 2022. The New London Police Department has declined to provide any information about the status of the officers.
The Office of Inspector General was established in 2021 as part of a police accountability law and is charged with investigating police-involved shootings and prosecuting any cases where an officer's use of force was found not to be justifiable.
