Police: Man shot himself at hotel, tried to make it look like a robbery

A 69-year-old Connecticut man is in jail after police say he shot himself and falsely claimed he had been shot during a robbery attempt.

The shooting happened two weeks ago in the parking garage of the Hilton Garden Inn in the Courthouse neighborhood, a block from Arlington County police headquarters.

The man was hospitalized with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, police said at the time.

This morning, police announced that the man who was shot had been arrested and faces a number of charges, including filing a false police report.

The Arlington County Police Department’s Homicide/Robbery Unit is announcing an arrest in a shooting that occurred in the 1300 block of N. Courthouse Road on February 15, 2023. Chester Dunican, 69, of Waterford, CT, is charged with Felon in Possession of a Firearm, Discharge Firearm in Public and False Police Report. He is being held without bond in the Arlington County Detention Facility.

The suspect initially reported to police that he was placing items into his vehicle when an unknown male wearing a ski mask approached, demanded his wallet and shot him. During the course of the investigation, detectives uncovered numerous inconsistencies between the suspect’s account of the incident and evidence recovered. The investigation ultimately determined the suspect shot himself and tried to make it appear as though an attempted robbery had occurred. He was taken into custody on the afternoon of February 27, 2023, after his release from the hospital for injuries sustained during the incident.

News reports suggest that Dunican’s felony conviction was quite recent.

He pleaded guilty in a Michigan federal court this past October to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The charge stems from a scheme that defrauded a Native American tribe of more than $1 million, various news outlets reported. The reports also note that it’s not the first time Dunican had been implicated in a business scheme.

“Dunican is known in Maine for several business ventures that became entangled in financial and legal problems,” the Portland Press Herald reported, adding that, according to Dunican’s attorney, he previously served in the military and has “serious and chronic health conditions.”

Dunican was set to be sentenced on Feb. 14, a day before the shooting, but “informed the court he had car problems and was unable to make it to the hearing,” another Maine newspaper reported. He faces up to 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release for the fraud charge, though federal sentences are typically lower than the maximum under statute.

According to ACPD, Dunican is currently being held without bond at the county jail in Courthouse, following his release from the hospital yesterday (Monday).