Former Hartford police officer charged with manslaughter in fatal shooting of Stevie Jones
Jones' family called 911, saying he was having "an acute mental health crisis."
Former Hartford, Connecticut, police officer Joseph Magnano was charged with first-degree manslaughter in connection to the February 27, 2026 fatal shooting of Steven “Stevie” Jones.
The charge and evidence supporting it was laid out in a report from the Connecticut Office of Inspector General (OIG), which was released on Monday, and comes after Hartford Mayor Arunan Arulampalam announced in March that he had terminated Magnano amid a probe into the incident after viewing the police body camera video footage.
ABC News has reached out to the Hartford Police Department and Magnano's attorney for comment.
"The undersigned submits that Magnano, by shooting Jones, under circumstances evincing an extreme indifference to human life, recklessly engaged in conduct that created a grave risk of death to Jones, and thereby caused his death,” the OIG report stated. “The undersigned further submits that Magnano's use of deadly force was not legally justified.”
Attorney Ben Crump, who represents Jones’ family, welcomed the charge against Magnano in a statement on Monday afternoon, saying it was a “a necessary and meaningful step toward accountability for Stevie Jones and his family.”
“No family should ever have to bury a loved one because the systems meant to help them failed them so completely. We will not rest until his legacy produces real, lasting change," Crump added.
According to the OIG report, police responded to the scene after "a family member of Jones called 911 to seek assistance because Jones was having an acute mental health crisis." The caller indicated that Jones had "cut himself and had a knife in his hand," the report states. The caller was later identified as Audrey Jones, Stevie Jones' sister.
Body camera videos of the incident taken from the four officers who responded to the scene showed the minutes leading up to the fatal shooting and the moment Jones was fatally shot by the officer, according to the OIG. Magnano fired nine times at Jones, who was walking around with a knife in the street and repeatedly ignoring officers' orders to drop the knife, according to the OIG.
At the moment he was shot, Jones appeared to be walking slowly toward one of the officers, still holding the knife, while the other three officers surrounded him, according to video reviewed by ABC News. In the footage, Jones appeared to be walking at a steady, slow pace, holding the knife in his hand with the blade pointed down towards the ground when he was shot.
Jones, a father of two, died of his injuries on March 3.
Hartford Police Union President James Rutkauski, who condemned the mayor's decision to fire Magnano, told ABC News in a statement in March that Magnano's actions were "justified" and "lawful."
ABC News reached out to Rutkauski for comment after Monday's news that Magnano was charged.