[B]URLINGTON — State police detectives investigating a Burlington Police officer for killing an elderly mentally ill man last month discovered a letter in the dead man’s downtown apartment that mentions killing police, court documents show.
The letter is catalogued in a search warrant return for the 101 College Street apartment of 76-year-old Ralph ‘Phil’ Grenon who was shot and killed by 23-year-old officer David Bowers after a five hour standoff that began because Grenon was threatening to harm his neighbors.
Grenon’s daughter, who lives in Arizona, has described her father in media reports as a paranoid schizophrenic. She and officials have both said he had stopped taking prescribed medication several weeks before he was killed.
Grenon was also upset because he was being evicted from his apartment, officials said. The building where he lived, known as the South Square apartments, is affordable housing for the elderly and people with disabilities.
The state police needed to obtain a search warrant for Grenon’s apartment as part of their investigation into Grenon’s killing. State police investigate officer involved shootings in Vermont. Their investigation report is sent to prosecutors who decide whether to file charges. A list of what state police found was filed in court Friday.
State police declined to answer questions about the search warrant returns, as did Chittenden County State’s Attorney TJ Donovan, who said only that he is expecting the state police report “in the next couple weeks.”
Donovan and state police did not respond to a public records request for a copy of the letter found in Grenon’s apartment.
The search warrant was authorized March 22, the day after the shooting occurred. It shows investigators were looking for knives that may have been involved in the standoff — police say Grenon was armed with two kitchen knives — spent shell casings and bullets or bullet fragments; bodily fluids, biological matter, DNA or other trace evidence; any less than lethal weapons or evidence of their use; and “any correspondence, documents journals/diaries, letters or writings that would indicate Ralph Grenon’s state of mind.”
Listed among the items recovered from the scene is one described as “Hand written letter ref. eviction/killing police.” There is another that is “Box of misc writings/notes.”
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said Friday that he had not seen the letter. The gathering of letters and other documents in a search warrant is standard in this type of investigation as state police may have been looking for a suicide note, del Pozo said.
“If (the letter) offers insight into his frame of mind, it could shed light on his determination and some of his actions,” del Pozo said. The chief clarified that by determination he was referring Grenon not going down when struck by a Taser in the moments before he was shot and killed.
“At face value, it shows the dangers officers were facing regardless of how long they were there,” del Pozo added.
Rachel Siegel, a former city councilor and executive director of the Peace and Justice Center, is among those who has called for greater citizen oversight of police in the wake of Grenon’s killing. Siegel attended a recent meeting, where the chief and community members discussed the incident and police response in detail.
Siegel said the alleged letter doesn’t change her view of the police response, which is that officers should have found a way to avoid killing Grenon.
“I guess some people would think (the letter) justifies more aggression, but even if you think that way, they didn’t know about it until after that fact,” she said. Consequently, it could not have informed police actions, Siegel continued.
The problem with policing is systemic not specific to this incident, and Grenon’s killing highlights a larger problem, Siegel said. Officers responding to Grenon’s apartment followed the protocols they have in place for incidents where a mentally ill person is a threat to themselves. It’s those protocols that need scrutiny, she said.
“It does make me curious whether past experiences with police contributed to his reaction that day,” Siegel said, adding that it also makes her wonder whether Grenon would have reacted differently if confronted by social workers instead of police.
Several people who attended the police meeting on Grenon’s shooting, which was closed to the press, said that workers at the Burlington Housing Authority expressed frustration that they were not notified or included in the response. Housing authority officials knew Grenon, and were working through the eviction process with him.
A member of the Howard Center’s Street Outreach Team, who was going to check on Grenon the day he was shot, asked for an officer to accompany her because of Grenon’s increasingly threatening behavior, according to police accounts. The street outreach team is a group of social workers who carry police radios and are the first responders on many mental health calls.
While an officer and the outreach team member were en route to Grenon’s apartment, police received a call from the property manager of Grenon’s building saying that Grenon was yelling and making threats against his neighbors. At that point officers made the decision it would be too dangerous for the crisis worker to be part of the response, according to police.
State police Det. Sgt. Denis Girouard, who filed an affidavit for the search warrant, reviewed body camera video from the incident. In his justification for the search warrant Girouard offers a detailed account of the shooting, which closely mirrors what state police and Chief del Pozo have said about the incident previosuly.
The search warrant lists two knives that were found in the “bedroom beside bed.” Grenon was shot and killed exiting the bathroom where he had retreated after an initial confrontation with officers, according to police. His apartment’s bathroom opens into the bedroom. Del Pozo has said previously that the confrontation was complicated by the cramped dimensions of the apartment.
When officers approached Grenon’s apartment they could hear him yelling inside, according to the search warrant affidavit. They tried to speak with him through the door. When he wouldn’t respond or let them in, officers entered with a key provided by the property manager.
They found Grenon on the other side in his kitchen holding two knives. He advanced toward officers, and officer Bowers attempted to shoot Grenon with a Taser, according to the affidavit. It was ineffective because Grenon slammed the door, and one of the Taser barbs didn’t connect.
That was the start of a hours long standoff where police attempted to verify Grenon had not hurt himself. He did not respond to verbal communication or phone calls. Police went as far as drilling holes in the wall and inserting a camera to see if they could verify he was unharmed without entering, according to previous accounts.
When they couldn’t verify Grenon’s wellbeing, police entered the apartment again and discovered Grenon in the bathroom shower behind a curtain. After several ineffective attempts to coax Grenon out of the shower, officers approached the bathroom again, according to the affidavit.
One officer holding a clear protective shield pushed the curtain back using a broom handle, and Grenon could be seen standing in the bathtub holding a large knife. He then thrust the knife at the nearest officer, according to the affidavit.
An officer then shot Grenon with a Taser that “appeared not to have the full effect” on Grenon who screams and appears to try and remove the Taser barb. Grenon then comes out of the shower “clearly holding a large knife in his left hand and appeared to have a smaller knife in his right hand,” detective Girouard writes in his affidavit.
Grenon exits the bathroom advancing on officers and ignoring their commands until Bowers shoots him. He then falls to the floor in the bedroom, according to the affidavit.
Grenon was rushed to UVM Medical Center, but his death certificate says he died within minutes of being shot.
The medical examiner lists his cause of death as “gunshot wounds of torso and extremities.” Police have not said how many times Grenon was shot. In a video from the scene posted by the Burlington Free Press, which captures audio of the incident, at least six shots can be heard.
Police say Bowers is the only one that shot his weapon, and the search warrant returns would appear to confirm that.
Among the items recovered from the scene were Officer Bowers’ .40 caliber Glock handgun, as well as .40 caliber rounds, shell casings and bullets. There were seven shell casings found in the bedroom and living room, which would indicate Bowers shot seven times.
State police investigators found three fired bullets in the apartment, one on the bathroom floor, one on the bedroom floor and one in the bedroom wall, but that doesn’t necessarily mean those shots missed Grenon, because they could have passed through him.
Investigators found Taser barbs in a pair of Grenon’s jeans. They found four Taser cartridges in the bedroom, as well as a Taser barb and wire on the kitchen floor, near the entrance to the apartment.
They found a fifth Taser cartridge somewhere else at the scene, but the search warrant doesn’t indicate where.
