Old Saybrook — The two state police troopers who in October 2015 shot at and ultimately killed a 31-year-old man accused of committing four bank robberies were justified in their use of force, according to a report released Friday.

The report, compiled by Tolland State's Attorney Matthew C. Gedansky, paints a harrowing picture of the standoff at Econo Lodge that began the night of Oct. 9, 2015, and ended early the next day with the death of Richard P. Love, formerly of Groton.

According to Gedansky’s findings, Love had been on the radar of several police departments since he was identified on Sept. 29, 2015, as a suspect in the theft of $3,280 from a Citizens Bank in Richmond, R.I.

In the days that followed, three more banks were hit: Coreplus Federal Credit Union in East Lyme, Citizens Bank in Mystic and Dime Bank in Norwich. More than $6,000 was stolen. Love was named a suspect in those cases, too.

Local and state police on Oct. 6, 2015, met to share information, including that Love had been staying in southeastern Connecticut motels and had been using crack cocaine and heroin.

Three days later, police learned Love’s cousin Chris Spielman, who they knew had been staying with him, had checked into the Econo Lodge at 1750 Boston Post Road in Old Saybrook.

At 11:01 p.m. on Oct. 9, 2015, Old Saybrook police Officer Philip Ciccone arrived at the motel, where he set up outside to keep an eye on Room 111. About 10 minutes later, other Old Saybrook police began gathering nearby. Chief Michael Spera made his way to the scene.

According to the report, Old Saybrook police assembled a five-person team and lined up on both sides of the door to Room 111. Sgt. Ryan Walsh knocked and asked the man inside to exit the room. The man asked who was there. Walsh explained.

The man peeked outside through the window. Officers recognized him as Love.

According to police, Love then told police he had a “.45.” When police asked if that meant he had a gun, Love, through the window, pointed a black semi-automatic firearm in their general direction.

At that point, about 11:30 p.m., town police requested the state police Tactical Unit and asked Clinton police and state police at Troop F in Westbrook to respond for backup.

At 11:41 p.m., Old Saybrook police Dispatcher Robert Dahlstrom — he reported to headquarters to help the lone on-duty dispatcher when he heard what was happening on the scanner — received a call from Love.

Dahlstrom repeatedly asked Love to exit the room without his weapon and with his hands in the air.

According to a recording of the call, Love said, “I would rather die than come out there. So either you can do it or I can do it.”

Love hung up at 11:45 p.m. Old Saybrook police decided to wait for the state police Tactical Unit instead of entering the room.

At 11:48 p.m., Dahlstrom got Love back on the phone. What followed was more than an hour of erratic conversation among Dahlstrom, Love and Old Saybrook Detective David Perrotti, who also was on the line.

Love told the men he had been awake for days abusing drugs. Paranoid, he urged them to stop officers from “pumping s--t into the room.” He said he could hear officers yelling expletives at him.

“Nothing ever changes, it’s the same end, right?” he asked at one point.

In an expletive-laden tirade in the minutes leading up to 12:56 a.m., Love described himself as being “tweaked out” and “nervous.” He agreed to exit the room, but asked for some time to smoke a cigarette, first. Then he changed his mind.

“(Expletive), I don’t want to die,” he said.

A gunshot rang out.

Love remained on the line, gasping for air and responding to questions from Dahlstrom and Perrotti with one-word answers or moans. It was later determined he had shot himself in the chin.

By 1:06 a.m., the state police Tactical Unit had arrived on scene. They sent a robot with a camera into Room 111 and saw a room that was in disarray but had no one inside. The camera showed a door at the far side of the bedroom, one that led to the bathroom, was closed.

One by one, troopers entered the room in a predetermined order. Greeted with a locked bathroom door, they used a battering ram to bust it open. Ballistic shield in hand, Trooper 1st Class Richard Oenning stepped partially into the lit room but couldn’t see Love. Oenning drew his pistol.

Through the crack on the hinge side of the door, Trooper 1st Class Daniel McCarthy saw a bloodied Love standing in the tub with his handgun aimed directly at Oenning. McCarthy placed his Colt M4 Commando rifle in the crack of the door and ordered Love to drop his gun. Love instead turned his gun toward McCarthy. The distance between them was about 3 feet.

McCarthy, recognizing the danger of the situation, fired two rounds at Love before making his way into the bathroom.

Trooper 1st Class Carson Konow then stepped into McCarthy’s former position. Love, whose face and front side were covered in blood, still had his gun aimed at the troopers, Konow observed.

According to the report, Konow said he didn’t have time to give verbal commands “as his teammates’ lives were in immediate jeopardy.” He fired two rounds at Love from his Commando rifle.

About the same time, McCarthy fired one round at Love from inside the bathroom, striking him in the head. Love’s gun dropped to the ground.

Troopers called a paramedic to the scene. Love was pronounced dead.

In his report, Gedansky details the motel surveillance, dispatch audio, marks within the motel room and other evidence that corroborate troopers’ and officers’ stories.

According to the report, Love “incurred severe trauma to various parts of his face and head.” Love sustained a total of five gunshot wounds and had cocaine and heroin in his system when he died, the report states.

In addition to the Beretta Px4 Storm .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol Love had been holding, police found heroin, crack cocaine, $2,772.64 in cash, a pistol magazine and a 9mm handgun in the room.

Based upon the facts, the report states, McCarthy and Konow “reasonably believed that the use of deadly force was necessary to defend themselves and their fellow troopers from the imminent use of deadly physical force.”

Their use of deadly force, it concludes, was appropriate under the law.

l.boyle@theday.com