Nineteen-year-old Alec C. Chattin went into his mother's bedroom with a .22 caliber rifle on Jan. 25, 2016, but even though there was a round of ammunition in the chamber, the gun did not fire when he tried to shoot her, according to testimony Monday in New London Superior Court.

Chattin dropped the rifle and stabbed Brenda Chattin with a Cold Steel folding knife, severing the main tendon to her index finger, slashing her ear from top to bottom and cutting her left side and arm. Then the son, who had been suffering from depression and had stopped taking his medication, began choking his screaming mother. He eventually stopped and called 911 at her request.

He was standing in front of their raised ranch at 24 Country Club Road in Ledyard, his hands above his head in the universal surrender position, when Ledyard police arrived within minutes of the 10:45 p.m. incident, according to testimony.

Brenda Chattin, who had not seen her son since the attack, cried as she testified at his insanity hearing Monday in New London Superior Court. She said she had awakened to see him "standing in the room with a rifle in his hand aimed at me" and asked him what he was doing. She said he dropped the rifle and began "hitting" her. She said Chattin had never been violent and that she didn't realize until later that he had stabbed her.

"He was expressionless and blank," his mother said. "It wasn't my son."

Chattin, now 20, has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to charges of attempted first-degree assault and second-degree assault. He has been held in lieu of $250,000 at the Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire but would be committed to the Whiting Forensic Division of Conneticut Valley Hospital for up to 25 years if Judge Hillary B. Strackbein finds he is not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

On Monday, prosecutor Stephen M. Carney presented evidence to prove to the judge that Chattin committed the crimes. Carney elicited testimony from the mother and Ledyard patrolman William Nott and Detective Christopher Cadro and put into the record the 911 call from the incident, crime scene photos and a videotaped statment in which Chattin admitted to the attack.

When the hearing resumes on Nov. 28, Public Defender Kevin C. Barrs is expected to call to the witness stand Leslie M. Lothstein, a forensic psychologist who evaluated Chattin and provided information to support the insanity defense. Chattin's mother testified he had been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in fourth grade and also suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and sensory integration disorder, and the psychologist who evaluated him for the defense is expected to provide a more detailed analysis of his condition.

Chattin sat quietly at the defense table during the hearing, using tissues to wipe his face as his mother testified about the attack. His father and college-age sister listened from the gallery.

Brenda Chattin said her son, though "very bright," had issues since childhood. She is divorced and was living alone with him at the time of the incident. She said he had stopped attending Central Connecticut State University, where he hadn't done well, and was taking time to "readjust" before commuting to another college. She said she was coming down with a cold and when she came home from her job as a computer technician at the Ledyard Board of Education, he made her a cup of tea. She then took him to the Mystic McDonald's, where he was applying for a job, and they stopped at the Bill Library and checked out several movies. She said she went to bed at 9 p.m. after taking Nyquil to help her sleep and woke up to see him with the gun.

She said she was screaming a lot during the attack and she thinks her son began choking her to stop her from making the loud noise, because it bothered him.

"I said, 'I'll stop. You stop.' And he did," she testified. She told him he needed to call 911 and that he was confused.

"I had to tell him, 'You stabbed me. You hit me, buddy. This is my blood. Mommy's bleeding,"' she testified.

Her son wanted her to hug him before he called 911, but she couldn't, she said.

Police recovered a .22-caliber rifle, loaded with one round, and found a .22 caliber round on the floor next to the victim's bed, according to a report. They also seized the pocket knife and in Chattin's room found a magazine, or detachable ammunition holder, for the .22 caliber rifle.

The investigators also found in the bedroom a collection of knives and other items Chattin's mother said were "left over" from when he did World War II re-enactments with his father. The police found in the room a pellet gun that the mother said was "an old prop" and was not functional.

Patrolman Nott testified that Chattin was calm and lucid when he surrendered himself and that he volunteered that he had tried to shoot his mother with a rifle but the rifle didn't work so he stabbed her in the head.

During a videotaped interview with Nott and state police detective Sean Velazquez, Chattin said he had been having trouble sleeping and had been having bad dreams and was not taking his medication. He said he went to bed about 9 p.m. and got up once to use the bathroom.

"He said the last thing he remembered he was on top of his mother, choking her," Nott testified.

Detective Cadro, a firearms expert, said he test-fired the Marlin .22 rifle found at the scene.

"There's a safety device in the weapon that requires the magazine in it to be fired," he said. The magazine had been recovered in Chattin's bedroom, while the rifle was on the floor in Brenda Chattin's room. 

When the hearing concluded for the day Monday, the mother was allowed to visit him in the lockup area of the courthouse. He had been prohibited from contact with her under a protective order.

k.florin@theday.com