[N]ectar’s nightclub staff confiscated a gun hours before it was used in a February shooting outside a Burlington bar that left one bystander seriously injured, according to the Chittenden County state’s attorney.
But then the staff gave the firearm back to Rashad Nashid, 37, the soon-to-be-shooter, on his way out of the club, Sarah George, the county prosecutor, said in a letter to the city’s police department. The Burlington Free Press first reported on the letter.
“Nectar’s staff takes Mr. Nashid’s firearm from him, but ultimately staff returns it to him when he leaves the bar,” George writes in a timeline of events, noting that Nashid had previously pulled the gun on Dennis Martin, a man he was feuding with, while inside the club.
George writes that Martin learned that the gun had been returned to Nashid. “The parties are mostly separate for the next two hours but witnesses state that Mr. Nashid is repeatedly making statements and threats to the effect of ‘I’ll kill you,’ ‘I’ll kill those guys, ‘I can’t stand Africans’ and other statements of that nature,” the letter says.
While the staff took the gun away from Nashid, they did not notify Burlington Police about the incident or take any other steps, the city’s police chief, Brandon del Pozo, told the Free Press. Del Pozo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Nashid allegedly waited outside of the bar for Martin and then opened fire. “…one shot hits an innocent bystander resulting in serious bodily injury; one shot enters a second story apartment above Manhattan Pizza,” George writes.
The owners of Nectar’s did not return a call to the bar requesting comment on Friday afternoon.
George’s letter explained that Martin’s brother, Carl, had pointed a weapon at Nashid and punched him before Nashid opened fire. But George wrote that while she believed Carl Martin’s actions were “irresponsible, dangerous and injudicious,” she believed he was trying to protect his brother from Nashid and therefore had not committed any criminal offenses.
In a rare move, del Pozo and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger publicly criticized George’s decision not to charge Martin.
The shooting left Chelsi Parker, 27, hospitalized at University of Vermont Medical Center for three weeks after she was shot in the lung.
Nashid has plead not guilty in federal court to being a felon in possession of a firearm and is expected to appear in court Sept. 20 to face other charges.
