Attorney charged in fatal shooting

Claiming self-defense, Litchfield lawyer allegedly was accosted outside office by ‘enraged’ attacker

A Connecticut attorney who claimed self-defense in the shooting death last year of a man who attacked him outside a Litchfield law office has been charged with first-degree manslaughter, state police said Thursday.

Police say Robert Fisher, 75, of Goshen, shot and killed Matthew Bromley, 39, of Torrington on June 7, 2021. Fisher turned himself in Wednesday. He posted bail of $50,000 and is due in court on May 23, police said.

In his sworn statement, Fisher told police that he left his office in Washington Depot in the late afternoon headed to the offices of Cramer & Anderson on West Street in Litchfield, where he also worked. After reaching the Bantam section of town on Route 202, Fisher said he noticed the driver of a Saab sedan following him, sometimes closely.

When Fisher pulled his black Audi into the driveway of the West Street office, the other driver also pulled over and ran over to Fisher’s car, police said Fisher told them. Fisher said he opened his door and started to get out, but the other man punched him in the face while he was still seated. The infuriated man was spewing obscenities and saying Fisher had ruined his life and would “burn in hell,” Fisher said, according to the warrant.

“His face was totally angry, enraged and he seemed crazed to me,” Fisher said, according to the warrant. “I immediately became fearful for my safety and my life and knew I needed to defend myself.

“I managed to release my seat belt and pivot left while still seated,” he continued. “I kicked him and pushed him back as best I could, causing him to go backwards towards his car, and I was able to get out of my car. I wanted to get out of my car because I felt trapped in my car, did not know if he had a weapon, and did not want him to start attacking me again while I had no ability to escape safely or defend myself.”

Fisher said Bromley, whom he did not know, told him he was going to kill him and repeated that Fisher had ruined his life, according to the warrant. Fisher said he asked, “Who are you?” and “How did I ruin your life?”

Bromley did not answer, but continued shouting, charging at Fisher and spitting in his face, the warrant says Fisher told police.

“It was at this point when I realized that he was not going to stop attacking me,” Fisher said in his sworn statement. “I am nearly 75 years old with physical limitations and was fearful he was going to knock me to the ground leaving me completely helpless.

“I had tried to defuse the situation several times; however, he had already demonstrated that he was young, quick, and aggressive,” Fisher continued, according to the warrant. “I then took my gun (a Ruger 9 mm handgun) out of my right pants pocket and pointed it at his chest, engaged the red laser dot to make it clear to him that I had a gun, and shouted ‘Back off!’

“I pulled my gun because I did not want him to keep attacking me and expected he would back off and stop; however, he immediately charged me again, grabbing my right forearm that held the gun,” police say Fisher told them.

“After a brief struggle over the gun,” he continued, “I shot him. After I shot him, he stumbled back a few feet and collapsed on his back. I put my gun on the roof of my car and used my cell phone to call 911. Law enforcement personnel arrived within minutes.”

Bromley was shot in the head between his left eye and temple.

Witnesses corroborated some of Fisher’s account, police said, but the two eyewitnesses to the confrontation did not back Fisher’s statement that Bromley had grabbed for the older man’s gun or that there was a struggle over the weapon, according to the warrant. Both witnesses, in fact, said Bromley’s hands were at his sides when he was shot, police said.

“I’d like to add,” one witness was quoted in the warrant as saying, “that I don’t believe that this is self-defense because the younger male did not have a weapon. I think the older male could’ve punched the other guy and settled it that way rather than shooting him.

“It just didn’t seem like it was that violent of an attack,” the witness said, according to the warrant. “The attack looked like a wrestling match because the older male was defending himself pretty well from the punches.”

The warrant, however, also says that gunshot residue was found on Bromley’s right hand.

Connecticut law on self defense says a person is justified in using reasonable physical force to defend himself or a third person “from what he reasonably believes to be the use or imminent use of physical force.” However, use of deadly force is allowed only when a person reasonably believes that another person is using or about to use deadly force or is inflicting or about to inflict great bodily harm.

A person is not justified in using deadly force if he knows he “can avoid the necessity of using such force with complete safety by retreating,” except that a person is not required to retreat inside his home.

Although Fisher initially said he did not know Bromley, an employee of the Litchfield law office said she remembered Bromley calling the office and asking to speak to Fisher around the last week of May, according to the warrant. Apparently, the witness said, Bromley was trying to buy his mother’s home, which was in foreclosure. She said she overheard Fisher telling Bromley that he did not handle foreclosures, the warrant said.

“Robert wished him good luck finding an attorney and the call ended,” the woman told police. “After the call, Robert said something along the lines of, ‘That guy was crazy.’ “