BRISTOL, CT—Monday marks four years since two Bristol police officers were shot and killed while answering a false emergency call.

Lt. Dustin DeMonte and Sgt. Alex Hamzy died at the scene on Redstone Hill Road on Oct. 12, 2022. A third officer, Alec Iurato, was shot in the leg, but was able to shoot and kill the gunman, Nicholas Brutcher, investigators have said.

“Four years — it’s hard to believe it’s been that long already,” Phil DeMonte, Dustin’s brother, said Sunday. “Still hurts just as much as it did when it first happened.”

DeMonte said he planned to spend the day Monday with his family, remembering his brother, and added, “Alex and his family are in our thoughts also.”

Reached by phone Sunday, Iurato declined to comment. A representative of the Hamzy family could not be reached.

Bristol Mayor Ellen Zoppo-Sassu said in a phone interview Sunday that the city police department will mark the anniversary privately, but work is underway to install a prominent public memorial to DeMonte, Hamzy and three other Bristol officers who died in the line of duty.

The memorial is to be part of the facade of police headquarters on Main Street, Zoppo-Sassu said, adding that she hoped it will be in place by the fifth anniversary of the shooting next year.

“I know they are spoken of frequently within the department,” the mayor said of DeMonte and Hamzy. “Their names are spoken, and I think that’s important.”

Many Bristol residents also continue to honor the officers with blue lights outside their homes, the mayor said.

Two school gymnasiums were named after DeMonte and Hamzy this year. The gym at Greene Hills Elementary School was named for DeMonte, a Middletown native, in May, and the gym at Northeast Middle School, which Hamzy attended, was named after him at the start of the school year, Zoppo-Sassu said.

DeMonte, 35, Hamzy, 34, and Iurato, then 26, responded to Brutcher’s home on Redstone Hill Road after Brutcher reportedly called 911 about 10:30 p.m. Brutcher claimed his brother was aggressive and would not calm down, according to a report by the state Inspector General.

The call, however, was a ruse, and when the three officers arrived at the home, Brutcher was hiding in bushes on a neighboring property and opened fire on the officers with an AR-15 rifle, according to the report. Hamzy and DeMonte both fell and were not moving as Brutcher stood over them and fired additional rounds into their bodies, the report said.

Iurato, who had maneuvered into position behind Hamzy’s cruiser, fired one shot, hitting Brutcher at the base of his skull and killing him, according to the report. DeMonte was a married father of two children with a third on the way at the time of his death. Hamzy, who had no children, had been married for about a year, according to his family.

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