A screenshot from a body camera shows Alexander Garay shortly before he was shot twice on Nov. 30, 2024, during a stand-off with Hartford Officer Gabrielle Arruda. An investigation into the shooting found Arruda had acted appropriately. 

By Josh Lanier From Daily Voice

State investigators have ruled that a Hartford police officer was justified when she twice shot a man who refused to drop his gun during a confrontation last year. 

The Office of the Inspector General said on Thursday, Oct. 23, that Officer Gabrielle Arruda’s actions were “objectively reasonable” during the confrontation with 49-year-old Alexander Garay on Nov. 30, 2024. Arruda was a five-year veteran of the Hartford police department at the time of the shooting. 

The report said Arruda twice used her stun gun on Garay when he reached for something concealed in his waistband during a standoff near Broad and West Preston streets. When that failed and Garay grabbed a handgun, Arruda fired twice, hitting him in the chest and leg.

“I conclude that the use of deadly physical force by Officer Arruda was objectively reasonable in response to the imminent use of deadly physical force by Alexander Garay in this incident,” Inspector General Eliot Prescott wrote. “Accordingly, I find that her actions were legally justified.”

Investigators said Arruda and Officer Elvis Martinez were responding to reports of a man waving a gun on Maple Avenue. When they found the suspect’s black SUV, it sped off and crashed a few blocks away.

Arruda broke the driver’s window to see inside. Garay ignored repeated commands to show his hands, the report said. Body-camera footage showed him reaching for the weapon before the officer fired.

Garay was hospitalized in critical condition but survived. He now faces charges of criminal possession of a firearm, interfering with police, and drug possession.

Prescott said his office will take no further action in the shooting.