STAMFORD -- A Stamford man is dead following a police-involved shooting Monday night, and now the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is saying his death was a suicide.
On March 21, around 8 p.m., members from Stamford Police Department SWAT were called to a home on Wedgemere Street for a disturbance. A caller reported that a man from that home had a gun and was threatening harm, Stamford Police said Tuesday. He was later identified as Dylan Pape, 25, of Stamford.
After about an hour, two Stamford officers shot the man. Police called it an "intense negotiation," and say it was later determined the gun was fake.
Emergency Medical Services arrived on scene and provided medical care to the man. He was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The medical examiner’s office tells FOX 61 it was suicide by cop, meaning when a person intentionally provokes police to shoot them. They say the gunshot wound to Pape's abdomen was not self inflicted. Both state and local police aren't commenting on that part of the investigation.
On Tuesday, just after midnight, detectives from Connecticut State Police assumed the investigation.
"This is a very unfortunate incident for everyone involved and the Stamford Police Department expresses our condolences to the Pape family," Chief Fontneau said. “Anytime there is a loss of life it is a tragic event and his heart goes out to all involved.”
FOX 61 has learned that Pape, a cancer survivor, was a nursing student at Norwalk Community College. According to the Susan Fund website, he was a scholarship recipient. The organization provides educational and emotional support to childhood cancer survivors.
The ACLU released a statement Tuesday afternoon calling for "increased oversight and reporting requirements regarding SWAT units:"
“We do not know what happened to Dylan Pape, and we have no assurances, under Connecticut law, that we ever will. This is sadly not the first time that a SWAT unit has killed someone in a Connecticut home. Connecticut residents need and deserve transparency about how, when, and why police use SWAT units,” said David McGuire, legislative and policy director for the ACLU of Connecticut. “In 2016, it is unconscionable that a highly militarized police unit can barge into someone’s home, use lethal force, and face no requirement to explain itself. Yet this is precisely the situation in which we find ourselves today. Right now, there are no laws requiring SWAT team oversight or reporting in Connecticut. We call on the legislature to pass legislation to provide comprehensive, clear SWAT team reporting and oversight.”
The two officers involved in this shooting have been placed on modified duty.