BURLINGTON — A Brooklyn man was shot and killed early Sunday morning in the lower Church Street area, police said.
Police identified Odafemi Adedapo, 28, as the victim in a statement released 11:15 a.m. Sunday.
The shooter remains at large. No one else was injured.
Adedapo has a lengthy criminal history and is alleged to have ties to a New York City gang, according to police. Officers discovered an amount of crack cocaine “inconsistent with personal use” on Adedapo, as well as a “substantial amount” of money, said Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo at a 3 p.m. news conference.
It is still too early in the investigation for police to say whether the shooting was drug related, del Pozo said.
Police were not able to release a description of the suspect, as witnesses have given conflicting descriptions of the shooter. Investigators have “several leads” based on tips, interviewing witnesses and reviewing surveillance footage, del Pozo said.
The killing is the second fatal shooting in Burlington in less than a week. On Dec. 22 a state trooper and a federal agent shot and killed a suspected drug dealer in an apartment just north of Church Street.
It is the fourth shooting in Burlington this year, and the third gun homicide. In January, 23-year-old Kevin DeOliveira was killed in his Greene Street apartment. That slaying is still under investigation.
Del Pozo said he does not believe the recent shootings constitute a trend of increased gun violence in Burlington, adding that the numbers are too low to demonstrate a statistically relevant increase in gun violence.
“Citizens are right to be concerned about gunfire” on Church Street, del Pozo said. However, the investigation suggests the shooting wasn’t random, which indicates there’s no specific ongoing threat to the public, he said. Apprehending the shooter is a top priority, he said.
Police said Sunday’s killing began as a dispute inside the Zen Lounge at 165 Church Street. Witnesses told police Adedapo was arguing with at least one other man inside the lounge. Shots were fired at approximately 2:15 a.m., shortly after bars closed and as many patrons poured onto the streets.
Officers posted at Church and Main streets heard the shots when they were fired about 300 feet away in front of 187 Main St. Police were on the scene in less than a minute, according to the BPD statement. Officers could not find a pulse on Adedapo and began administering CPR. Adedapo was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
He was shot multiple times with a handgun in the arms and torso, del Pozo said.
The Free Press reported that Zen Lounge asserted in a Facebook post that a dispute precipitating the shooting did not take place there.
“We split up a small scuffle at the bottom of the stairs,” Zen Lounge posted, according to the Free Press, “We saw the photo of the victim & it was neither party involved in the scuffle & we did not recognize him.”
Zen Lounge confirmed via Facebook message that the post was deleted. They also said that their staff did not recognize the victim.
“The fact that Zen was associated with the shooting with no evidence to support this statement is upsetting to us and irresponsible for anyone to release,” they said.
Police said multiple witnesses reported seeing the victim in a dispute at Zen Lounge. Del Pozo said Zen Lounge staff were still being interviewed Sunday, and he affirmed his belief that the incident began with a confrontation there.
In a separate incident on Dec. 18, police arrested a man with a loaded handgun on Church Street who had recently been kicked out of Zen Lounge. That incident and Sunday’s shooting appear unrelated del Pozo said. Both incidents are “cause for concern,” del Pozo said, and his officers will be paying close attention to Zen Lounge going forward.
Bar closing time on Church Street has been challenging for police. Lt. Paul Glynn recently told City Councilors that in order to manage an estimated 2,000 bar-goers who empty onto Church Street at 2 a.m. they “de-police” the rest of the city.
Adedapo has more than 20 arrests in New York City including a dozen felony arrests, some involving firearms, according to police, though they don’t say how many of the arrests resulted in convictions. Adedapo is a member of the Cashford Crips street gang, which operates in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York, according to the New York Police Department.
In September Adedapo was shot in Brooklyn by a group of attackers that remain at large.
Police said Adedapo was not known to the Burlington Police Department and has no criminal record in Vermont.
Several Brooklyn men indicted on federal drug and money laundering charges earlier this year in Vermont also allegedly had ties to the Crips street gang, but del Pozo said there’s no indication of links between Adedapo and those men at this time.
Mayor Miro Weinberger, who was not in Burlington Sunday, said in a statement that he had remained in close contact with del Pozo and praised officers response to the shooting, adding that he’s confident police will apprehend the shooter.
“Violent events like this can shake our community’s sense of security. In the wake of this shooting, the BPD will continue to expand its focus on community policing, increased foot patrols, and agency coordination in order to protect our citizens and provide the high quality of life we enjoy and deserve,” Weinberger said in his statement.
Acting Mayor and City Council President Jane Knodell, who attended Sunday’s news conference said incidents like Sunday’s shooting make residents feel unsafe, but she too was confident police would catch the shooter.
Reflecting on a violent week, Knodell said, “We’ve got too many firearms being discharged in the city, some of them by DEA some of them by individuals. It demonstrates the kind of danger created by the deadly combination of guns and drugs playing out here in Burlington.”
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated where in Brooklyn the Cashford Crips operate. The number of homicides in 2015 was also misstated; there were three, not two, gun homicides in Burlington.
