Man accused of shooting at officer wants a better plea bargain
STAMFORD — A Bridgeport man charged with trying to shoot and kill a Stamford police officer last summer is hoping to improve on a plea bargain offered to him last year, according to his public defender.
Stamford State’s Attorney Paul Ferencek said Lawrence Moore was offered a deal that would see him serve 20 years in prison to settle charges against him, including the attempted murder of Officer Bryan Cooper, criminal possession of a firearm, stealing a firearm, possession of narcotics and marijuana with intent to sell.
But, more than a year later, public defender Howard Ehring and his client still haven’t jumped on the offer.
Ehring said at a public hearing on Thursday that he and his client are instead discussing a potential counterproposal to the state deal.
“Within the next six weeks or so, I should be able to go up and speak with Mr. Moore up at jail and come back with a counteroffer to the charges and jail sentence he’s facing,” Ehring said Thursday.
Moore, 32, who is facing more than 40 years in prison if convicted of all the charges at trial, is being held at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in lieu of a $1 million court-appearance bond.
He is next scheduled to appear in court on May 10.
Police say that on July 9, 2019, Moore drove a green Toyota sedan to a residential complex on Seaton Road to complete a drug deal, not knowing it was set up by undercover Narcotics and Organized Crime squad officers.
When officers rushed toward Moore’s car, Moore allegedly shot at them through the driver’s side window.
Cooper was just feet away from Moore but was able to find cover and avoid being hit by the gunfire, police said.
After Moore ran out of bullets, he was arrested.
In 2009, Moore was involved in an attempted robbery of a salon in Bridgeport, in which he was shot, and was sentenced to 15 years in
prison. Moore was released before serving the full sentence. He was also arrested in Fairfield in 2017 for driving a car with a suspended license and resisting arrest.