Farmington Police Report History of Calls at Site of Officer-Involved Shooting

When Farmington police responded to the domestic violence call on Dec. 12 at 3 Butternut Drive in Unionville that resulted in police fatally shooting the suspect, it was not the first incident at the home. 

Farmington police reported six "calls for service" on record at the address since 2010. 

This time, police received reports of a domestic disturbance of a violent nature involving Gregory Bendas, 43, and his stepfather, whose name police have not released. Upon arriving at 10:43 p.m. that Thursday, police found Bendas holding a handgun in the front yard and when police confronted him, he was defiant and pointed the firearm at officers, according to State Police. In response, one Farmington officer fired his gun at Bendas, fatally wounding him, State Police said. 

The stepfather didn't just lose his stepson that day. He also lost his wife, Bendas' mother, after she passed away in Simsbury at McLean's on Dec. 12, according to an obituary published in The New Britain Herald. The obituary calls him her "soulmate" and states that the two were married in 1980. The obituary also acknowledges that "her loving son," Bendas, "passed away unexpectedly on the same day as his mom."

Farmington police said that most of the calls to the residence before Thursday's incident were "medical calls for the ill mother."

Police also responded to a reported verbal domestic incident "between Bendas and his parents in 2013"  and "a physical domestic between Bendas and his girlfriend in 2012."
 
Bendas lived at the Butternut Drive home with his stepfather. 

The Farmington officer who shot and killed Bendas is on "administrative duty" temporarily, as is the protocol following an incident of this nature, police previously said.

The Connecticut State Police are investigating the police-involved shooting incident and no further information has been released at this time. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to contact the State Police Major Crime unit at 860-685-8190. 

Patch will provide an update as it becomes available.