Valenta Slaughter called 911 to report her boyfriend of three years, 27-year-old Dryson Vindrick Gatlin, had struck her with a hammer, and she requested an ambulance. Police arrived at their shared apartment on Glastonbury Road to find the victim with multiple hammer injuries with blood and cuts to her face and significant swelling to her head, along with bleeding. Officers located a bloody hammer on the living room floor, which was covered with broken glass and blood droplets. Gatlin was detained inside the apartment, where he claimed his girlfriend was the first one to brandish a hammer and attempted to strike him first. Gatlin had two cuts on two of his fingers of unknown origin. Gatlin refused to be placed in a patrol car but was eventually transported to booking.