VA police arrest man with loaded gun

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) -- Police say a New Britain man impersonated a police officer and tried to gain access to the VA Hospital in West Haven.

According to police, Gordon Brooks, 34, dressed as an officer, tried to enter the hospital to meet with an unnamed doctor on Wednesday.

In court, Brooks attempted to address the court.

"I just wanted to say," said Gordon Brooks.

However, Brooks' attorney stopped him before he addressed the court himself. Instead, attorney Ken Bunker did all the talking and right off the bat made a case for dropping the most serious charge, impersonating a police officer, because the state law doesn't refer to impersonating federal law enforcement which is what Brooks is accused of doing.

"It's for impersonating someone within the division of the State Police or a sworn member of any local police department," said Bunker.

Despite a sign, police at the VA Hospital in West Haven say Brooks came in with a loaded handgun and ID and badge, claiming he was a criminal investigator with the Army. However, those credentials didn't check out and police say he also didn't have a permit to carry the pistol.

"I think the defendant had all intents and purposes of impersonating a police officer," the State said.

The State says Brooks handgun was loaded with hollow point rounds, the kind police use, and on the dashboard of his car were red and blue lights. So the prosecutor believes the effort to impersonate was there.

Due to a technicality with that statute the judge dropped the impersonating charge.

Brooks who now lives in New Britain has prior convictions in Virgina and Florida from 1997-1999 for failure to appear, domestic assault, and writing bad checks, but he's also an army veteran who served seven tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and was awarded the purple heart.

The judge ordered him held on $20,000 bond and if he gets out she wants him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.