Authorities quickly learned the man was well-armed and would not leave his house peacefully.
That information is contained in a preliminary report the Connecticut Office of Inspector General has released following a standoff in Stamford on Dec. 2 where 63-year-old Jed Parkington traded fire with members of the Stamford Police Department before turning the gun on himself.
According to the preliminary investigation conducted by Inspector General Eliot D. Prescott, a Connecticut state marshal arrived at a residence on Oaklawn Avenue in Stamford on Dec. 2 around 9 a.m. to evict the homeowners following the foreclosure of their mortgage.
The state marshal found Parkington’s wife and her dog in the driveway. As the marshal and Parkington’s wife walked to the back entrance to the home, Parkington reportedly came to the door, pushed his wife back outside, and said “take her someplace safe, this is not going to end well,” the report said.
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According to the report, the marshal claimed that Parkington was wearing a military uniform shirt with Nazi insignia on the collar and also said he was also wearing a utility belt with items attached that she believed may be explosive devices.
The marshal went to the front of the home and called the Stamford Police Department and reported what she saw, the report said.
Stamford officers who were dispatched to the home learned that Parkington owned one or more registered firearms. They were unable to contact him inside the house and believed that he may have barricaded himself inside, according to the report.
Stamford’s Hostage Negotiation Team and Special Response Team were dispatched to the scene. The report said a hostage negotiator was able to communicate with Parkington by telephone but was unable to convince him to leave the house peacefully.
During the conversation with the negotiator, part of which was released by the inspector general, Parkington expressed his frustration with his inability to find housing.
“Do you know how long I have been looking for housing and there’s no housing,” Parkington asked the negotiator.
“Housing for you and your wife?” the hostage negotiator replied.
“Yeah it was like three years and the nice ones that are not repainted crackhouses are six years,” Parkington said. “See, how can they throw people out if they don’t have any place to put them except a shelter. Treating people like garbage.”
Again the negotiator attempted to get Parkington to leave the house.
A screenshot taken from a drone shows Jed Parkington’s barricade of an upstairs window of his Stamford home. (Courtesy of Connecticut Office of Inspector General)
“I’ve lived in this house since 2005,” Parkington said. “I moved in when I was 40 now I have to move out when I’m in my 60s with arthritis, depression. You know you don’t move as fast.”
Parkington told the negotiator his wife suffers from diabetes and neurological issues. “She knows nothing, I did all this stuff when she was living with her daughter so she knows nothing.”
He talked about the writ they submitted to a judge to stay in the house that was denied, saying “You can’t do this to human beings.”
Parkington’s wife wrote a letter dated Dec. 1 to the judge handling the eviction proceedings asking to be allowed to stay in the home until after the holidays and into March.
“Winter is coming and I am afraid I am going to be left on the street in the middle of winter,” she wrote.
A judge denied the request, records show.
“You know here I am at the Alamo surrounded by people who just want me to be quiet,” Parkington told the negotiator.
During Parkington’s talk with the negotiator, Stamford Police obtained a search warrant for the home and an arrest warrant for Parkington, according to the report.
Around 12:34 p.m., members of the Special Response Team drove up to the residence in two BearCat armored vehicles. One vehicle drove up to the front door and, over a loudspeaker, an officer reportedly told Parkington he was under arrest and ordered him to come out of the house with his hands up, the report said.
Parkington then began to fire multiple rounds at the BearCat vehicles, video released by the inspector general shows. Both vehicles sustained damage and “were forced to retreat for officer safety,” according to the report.
The Special Response Team continued to use non-lethal flash bangs and other means to end the standoff. Parkington again fired on officers outside and, on several occasions, shot down drones deployed by the Special Response Team to determine his location in the house, the report said.
A still shot taken of Jed Parkington’s attempt to shoot down one of the drones. (Courtesy of Connecticut Office of Inspector General)
Three officers fired their department-issued firearms at Parkington. Two of the officers discharged their weapons from the BearCat and one officer shot from a tactical position on a porch of a nearby residence, according to the report.
Around 3:35 p.m., law enforcement officers reportedly heard a single shot come from inside the home. A drone was flown into the house, which located Parkington, who appeared to be dead, the report said. The drone footage also “revealed the presence of grenades, a pipe bomb and other improvised explosive devices inside the home.”
As the bomb squad started the process of rendering the home safe to enter, human remains were discovered in a room across the hallway from where Parkington’s body was located, according to the report.
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When emergency medical personnel were able to safely enter the home, they confirmed that Parkington and the other individual were dead, the report said.
Detectives from the State Police Western District Major Crime Squad responded to processed the scene.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner performed an autopsy of Parkington on Dec. 4 which determined his cause of death to be “gunshot wound of head and neck” and the manner of death to be suicide. The medical examiner also performed an autopsy on human remains and determined the cause of death to be “blunt impact injuries of head and torso with gagging” and the manner of death to be a homicide. The identity of the remains has not been determined at this time, according to the inspector general.
The Office of Inspector General, Connecticut State Police Western District Major Crime Squad, the Stamford Police Department, and the Stamford Judicial District State’s Attorney’s Office are continuing to conduct the investigation.
Information from Courant reporter Justin Muszynski was used in this report.