Man who killed two Connecticut cops played high school football with Aaron Hernandez

The man accused of placing a fake 911 call to ambush and kill two police officers played high school football with convicted murderer and disgraced late NFL star Aaron Hernandez. 

Nicholas Brutcher, who allegedly fired on the officers before being killed in the ensuing shootout, attended Bristol Central High School at the same time as the ex-New England Patriot. 

Hernandez died by suicide in a Massachusetts prison cell in 2017, after his arrest and conviction for the murder of Odin Lloyd in 2013. 

Hernandez had been acquitted in the double murders of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado and he was appealing his conviction for the murder of Lloyd when he killed himself at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster. 

He had an advanced stage of CTE which causes brain damage and is common among NFL players. 

Brutcher and Hernandez both played on the school’s football team and had several mutual friends, according to the New York Post. It is unclear if they had any relationship beyond that, as Brutcher was a senior when Hernandez was a freshman.  

Unearthed pictures show Brutcher and his brother, Nathan, who was shot and injured at the scene, happily holding handguns and rifles at a wedding and in the wilderness.

Brutcher shot officers Alex Hamzy, 34, and Dustin Demonte, 35, when he shot at them with an AR-15-style rifle. 26-year-old Alec Iurato was also injured.

According to reports, Nicholas was kicked out of a bar earlier in the night before placing the phony 911 call around 10.30pm on Wednesday.

Neighbors said the divorced dad of two was ‘always drinking,’ and that he’d often be around checking on his brother Nathaniel. 

Another neighbor described Nathaniel as a ‘skater punk’ and ‘man-child’ who was constantly under the influence and did little to get his life together. 

‘Nate is high as a kite every time I see him. But cocaine doesn’t drive you to call cops and shoot them,’ he said. 

The neighbors also spoke of the Brutcher’s family, which includes their mom and dad, two brothers and an adopted sister.

‘Their mother must be a wreck right now,’ a neighbor told the New York Post. ‘She’s also crazier than a f**king bag of chips.’

The neighbor added the Brutcher’s father has ‘got a really good heart. He’s been taking care of their mother and those boys for years. That dude’s a strong man.’

Police say the preceding 911 was ‘a deliberate act to lure law enforcement to the scene.’

It has not been announced who opened fire, who fired the fatal shots and how many guns were used in the encounter.

It is unclear if Nathaniel also shot at officers or was a bystander or a victim. 

Nicholas was shot dead at the scene while Nathan was wounded and hospitalized. His condition is unknown.

It comes as dozens of cops headed to the scene to line the roads to pay their respects to the fallen officers. 

One witness, Danny Rodriguez, said he heard three sets of gunshots and 30 shots in total. He says he heard another woman yelling out during the shooting: ‘you killed them!’

‘I heard a whole war going on behind me,’ Rodriguez said, according to KOCO.

According to the New York Times, Rodriguez saw a man dressed in camouflage leaving the Brutcher home with a rifle. Another man followed and attempted to restrain the camouflaged man before he was shot. 

Jeltema said state troopers and detectives are still gathering evidence and the ‘very complex’ investigation is ongoing.

She added that it was an ‘isolated incident’ with ‘no threat to the community’ during a press conference. 

Bristol Police Chief Brian Gould added that the deaths were as a result of ‘senseless violence’ which has brought the force ‘sadness and grief.’

‘They answered a call to duty, and they responded without hesitation, and that’s what they did every night before that,’ Gould said. ‘And that’s what all our officers do and will continue to do day after day.’

Sergeant DeMonte was hired in 2012 and worked as a school resource officer, and is survived by his wife Laura and two young children Phoebe and Porter.

Gould added that the couple was expecting a third child.

‘Words cannot express the sadness and grief that brings me before you this morning,’ Gould said.

DeMonte was named the 2019 Officer of the Year and also worked as an advisor for the explorer cadet program.

A September 27 Facebook post shows DeMonte wearing a Miami Dolphins jersey and smiling alongside his wife,  

Witnesses described hearing two sets of 12 gunshots before sirens and a helicopter descended on the area.

Officer Hamzy joined in 2014, working the patrol division and is survived by his wife Katie, parents and two sisters.

Iurato was hired in 2018, and was also assigned to the patrol division, with Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont directed flags to be lowered to half-staff in honor of the fallen officers.

He added: ‘The loss of two officers from the Bristol Police Department who were killed in the line of duty while responding to an emergency call of domestic violence is a senseless tragedy, and my prayers are with their families, loved ones, and fellow officers.

‘This is a devastating reminder of the dangers that police officers face every day to protect our families and neighbors from all kinds of situations.’

Mourners have left several floral tributes outside of the Bristol Connecticut Police Department, which also has black bunting hung over their sign. 

Nearby resident Robyn Lauzon told the Middletown Press that the shootout sounded ‘like a war zone.’

‘It was horrible. I heard three rounds of nine or 10 gunshots each,’ she said. ‘It was scary as hell — and the sirens were crazy. It was like a war zone.’

The officers were shot during an especially violent week for police in the United States. 

On Tuesday night in Mississippi, Greenville Police Department Detective Myiesha Stewart was killed and several other people were injured by gunfire as she and other officers responded to a call, authorities said.

Early Wednesday, three Philadelphia police officers were shot and wounded at a home and a suspect was killed when a SWAT team tried to arrest a man wanted on a homicide charge, police said. 

And in Decatur, Illinois, two police officers conducting a traffic stop in a central Illinois city were shot and wounded early Wednesday by a motorist who died after officers returned fire, police said.