[A] Burlington man who authorities say shot a bystander during an altercation outside of Nectar’s nightclub in February was arraigned Tuesday on a bevy of state-level charges.
Rashad Nashid, 37, was charged in Chittenden Superior Court with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated assault with a weapon, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and possession of a firearm in violation of a criminal conviction. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The shooting seriously injured Chelsi Parker, 26, of Essex Junction, who was hospitalized at the University of Vermont Medical Center for three weeks after being shot in the lung.
Nashid had pulled the gun on Dennis Martin, a man he had been arguing with while inside the nightclub, according to police. Later, Martin’s brother, Carl, confronted Nashid outside the club. Carl Martin then punched Nashid and pointed his own firearm at him before Nashid opened fire.
According to a police affidavit, Nashid fired two shots at approximately 2:11 a.m. — the one that struck Parker and another that entered a window of a nearby apartment. Parker was in a crowd of 15 people in the area at the time of the shooting, according to a surveillance camera at Esox, a bar that is located near Nectar’s.
Nashid was apprehended a couple of blocks aways from the bar, in the area of Bank Street and South Winooski Avenue, shortly after the shooting.
Bail was set at $10,000 and Nashid, who is being held in federal custody, was ordered not to have contact with either of the Martin brothers.
During the proceedings, Bob Katims, Nashid’s attorney, said he was planning on filing a motion to dismiss the charges. Katims declined to comment after the hearing.
Justin Jiron, the chief deputy state’s attorney, said the danger of the situation was self-evident.
“Whenever you have a mixture of tempers, alcohol and firearms in a crowded city street, it is a recipe for someone getting hurt or killed,” he said.
Jiron said that if Nashid claims self-defense in court, he did not believe that would succeed. He said Nashid was the “primary aggressor” in the situation because he was threatening Dennis Martin inside and outside the club.
“It would be kind of akin to a person goes into a store and tries to rob the store at gunpoint, and a bystander intervenes with a gun,” he said. “You can’t claim self-defense against the bystander when you’re already robbing the store.”
A Nectar’s employee had confiscated Nashid’s gun but returned it to him before the shooting. The nightclub did not contact police about confiscating the firearm.
Jiron said the state did not find any appropriate charges against the club for its role in the incident.
Nashid is also facing a federal charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
A status conference for the case was set for Dec. 21.
While Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George wrote that Carl Martin’s actions were “irresponsible, dangerous and injudicious,” she decided not to press charges against him because she believes he was trying to protect his brother from Nashid. Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo and Mayor Miro Weinberger then took the rare step of publicly criticizing George’s decision.
