This story by Susan Smallheer was published by the Brattleboro Reformer on Aug. 18.
[W]ESTMINSTER — A 20-year-old Westminster man shot himself in the neck late Thursday night, an event witnessed by two Vermont State Police troopers.
State police said the man, whom the Reformer is not identifying, was in critical but stable condition at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
Police had been called to a home at 341 Kimball Hill Road North at about 10:30 p.m.
Kimball Hill Road North is a narrow, dead-end dirt road off Hartley Hill Road. Police said they are seeking to talk to Jesse Morey, 26, of Westminster. Police said Morey was in the home before the state police got there, and had left the scene.
Police, who released a photograph of Morey on Friday afternoon, said they wanted to talk to him because he might be able to shed light on the incident.
“They also want to check on his welfare,” said Vermont State Police spokesman Adam Silverman.
Silverman said another person in the house had called 911, saying they had heard an argument and a gunshot. When troopers responded to the scene, they were talking with people outside the home when they heard another gunshot from inside the house. Silverman said police do not know who fired the first two shots.
When they went inside, they found a man armed with a firearm, and he fired one round into his own neck, police said. Troopers immediately provided medical care, including CPR, until emergency personnel arrived.
Silverman said the injured man was airlifted to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. However, Dartmouth-Hitchcock officials said they did not have a patient with that name.
Silverman said the two troopers had spoken only briefly with the man before he fired his weapon. He said one trooper was close to the man when the gun went off, and the other trooper was in the house, but not as close.
“It was a very quick and very brief exchange before he fired,” Silverman said.
He said at least one trooper saw the weapon and “immediately told the individual to drop the weapon.”
The man never pointed his weapon at the troopers, he said.
“If he had pointed the weapon at them, the troopers would have fired,” he said.
The incident falls under the Vermont State Police’s critical incident protocol to a limited extent, he said. The protocol covers officer involved shootings.
“Critical incidents can be potentially traumatic events,” he said.
The two troopers who were at the scene have access to the state police’s member assistance program.
He said one of the troopers “was closer and witnessed it more directly.”
“They were witnesses to a traumatic event,” he said. He declined to identify the troopers.
He said that leave is available to the troopers, but is not required as officer involved shootings are. “If they need it, they’ll get it,” he said.
Anyone with information about the incident or Morey’s whereabouts should contact the Vermont State Police Westminster barracks at 802-722-4600.
