Man shot by police arraigned on attempted murder charge

BRIDGEPORT — Juan Villa was released from the hospital Wednesday, 27 days after he was shot by police trying to stop him from allegedly stabbing another man.

Villa, 27, who is charged with attempted murder, first-degree assault, disorderly conduct and criminal mischief, was arraigned Wednesday afternoon before Superior Court Judge Peter McShane.

Villa’s lawyer, Devin Janosov, told the judge that Villa will plead not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

“He was previously treated for psychological issues,” the lawyer said. He also said Villa did not need to be shot, that police had other options open to them.

Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Pamela Esposito urged the judge to set a high bond because of the serious nature of the case.

“These are very serious allegations,” the judge agreed. He then ordered Villa held in lieu of $250,000 bond and continued the case to Nov. 3.

Body camera footage released after the shooting showed Villa was shot in the right side on Sept. 16 by Officer Eliud Henry during an altercation in an apartment house on Clinton Avenue.

Stamford State’s Attorney Paul Ferencek was appointed to oversee the investigation of the shooting. The investigation is pending.

“Officer Henry, 45, who has been employed by the Bridgeport Police Department since April 25, 2011, deployed his Taser upon Mr. Villa, but it is unclear whether the Taser struck Mr. Villa,” an initial report by Ferencek states.

The report states that Villa continued to repeatedly stab the victim in the head. Henry mounted the stairway and ordered Villa to drop the knife.

“As Villa continued the assault upon the victim, Officer Henry fired one shot at Mr. Villa, which temporarily disabled him,” the report states.

“There is a mental component to this case,” Janosov said following Villa’s arraignment. “The public shouldn’t rush to snap judgments.”

Janosov said he believes the body cameras the officers were wearing shows officers missing Villa with the Taser shot.

“I think it was excessive to shoot him before hitting him with a Taser again,” he said.

According to the police report, released Wednesday, at 1:16 a.m. Sept. 16, officers Henry and Sean Curran responded to the Clinton Avenue address on a welfare check.

“The caller stated that there is a psychiatric patient named Juan who lives on the third floor and was intoxicated earlier and just broke the glass in the hallway and the caller sees blood on the floor of the hallway,” the report states. It continues that the caller advises dispatch that someone was beating someone else.

The released body camera footage shows Henry and Curran walking up to a set of stairs and spotting blood on them; the footage shows a man later identified as Villa banging on the bathroom door at the top of the stairs and the officers running up.

In the report, Henry stated Villa ran away from the door and a second or two ran back to the bathroom door, knocked it down and began to stab the victim — who, according to the footage, was in the bathroom — numerous times.

The police report states that Villa was taken into custody after being shot once by Henry. The report does not state whether Villa was hit by the officers’ Tasers prior to being shot.

At 1:22 a.m., Curran contacted dispatch that they would need another car and medics and that they had one party shot and one party stabbed, the report states.

Officer Carlos Pabon Jr. states in the report that he entered a third-floor apartment in the Clinton Avenue apartment house and saw officers Henry and Curran in the bathroom which was covered in blood fighting with a suspect who refused to listen to commands to stay on the ground.

In the meantime, the report states, the 50-yearold victim was in another apartment on the third floor covered in blood.

“I asked (the victim) what happened and he stated that he was in his room watching TV when the suspect broke down his door and began to attack him with the knife that he had and stabbed him,” Pabon states in the report.

The victim survived after several surgeries, police said.