A New York state teen whose tip helped alert police to an alleged school shooting plot in Fair Haven has been honored by Vermont’s largest police force for her actions.
Angela McDevitt of Poughkeepsie, New York, was given the Vermont State Police Lifesaving Award during a ceremony Friday at the Statehouse.
The annual event is an opportunity for the agency to recognize members of the force and the public for their actions, as well as to acknowledge those receiving promotions, Col. Matt Birmingham, who heads the law enforcement agency, said at the start of the ceremony.
It was McDevitt, then 17, who came forward in February 2018 and reported to police the messages she exchanged with her friend, Jack Sawyer, over Facebook that helped to lead his arrest.
Sawyer, then 18, was soon after charged with allegedly planning to shoot up Fair Haven Union High School, where he had previously been a student.
Sawyer’s arrest in Vermont came just days after a mass shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 students and teachers dead.
McDevitt, who presenters said away at college, did not attend the award ceremony Friday.
That didn’t stop Gov. Phil Scott, who spoke at the event, from hailing the courage that he said she showed.
“It wasn’t easy for her, it’s not easy to come forward,” Scott said. “A lot of people in a similar situation may not have said anything.”
The governor added that many lives may have been saved by her actions.
“I hope what Angela did will be an example for all Vermonters, students and adults,” Scott said. “When you see something, say something. That one simple act might make all the difference in the world to a lot of people.”
Sawyer had left the Fair Haven school after officials there had become concerned about his fascination with the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, according to court records.
His parents sent him to Ironwood, a residential treatment school in Maine. He had graduated from the school and was living in a halfway house in Maine when he decided to check himself out and return to Vermont. This was shortly before his arrest, according to court records.
It was at Ironwood that Sawyer met McDevitt.
Sawyer was initially charged with several counts of attempted murder in the alleged thwarted plot. However, the Vermont Supreme Court threw out those charges, contending that his actions did meet the legal standard for an attempt under state law.
Sawyer was eventually “adjudicated a Youthful Offender” through a closed-door family court process, and was placed in an out-of-state residential treatment facility.
In messages exchanged with McDevitt before his arrest in February 2018, Sawyer wrote to her in response to the Florida shooting, “That’s fantastic. 100 percent support it,” according to court records.
He later added in a message to McDevitt that school shootings are just “natural selection” where the strong can get out and survive, court records stated.
The Republican governor said last year that the case “jolted” him, and he cited it when he signed three historic gun laws in April 2018 putting restrictions on firearms in Vermont.
Three police officers — Vermont State Police Trooper Stacey Corliss, and Sgt. Daniel Solomita and Patrolman Aleya Leombruno, both of the Hartford Police Department — were separately honored with a Lifesaving Award for their efforts on May 18, when they helped prevent a man from taking his own life at Quechee Gorge.
“Trooper Corliss responded and arrived moments later and saw a male subject on top of the fence with a leg on either side contemplating suicide,” a description of the incident from state police read.
Corliss tried to talk the man down and Solomita and Leombruno also arrived at the scene.
“The subject continued to escalate and swung his other leg over the edge towards the gorge side,” according to state police. “Trooper Corliss, Sergeant Solomita and Patrolman Leombruno grabbed onto the subject and were able to pull him onto the bridge/roadway side.”
Other Lifesaving Awards, with brief description of the events from state police, were presented to the following:
- Trooper Charles Gardner, for actions taken Aug. 11, 2018, when he responded to a call for assistance regarding a man suffering from a drug overdose.
- Damien Larose, for actions taken Dec. 28, 2018, when he entered a burning building to rescue a woman in distress.
- William Mayo, Charles McAllister, and Scott Ovitt, for their actions taken June 26, 2019, when they assisted in saving the lives of two civilians trapped in a burning building.
Director’s Awards were presented to the following:
- Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Megan Sheridan, for her work in an Arlington homicide case.
- Betty Wheeler, for work on the data collection project.
A Division Commander’s Award was presented to Vermont State Police Sgt. Travis Valcourt for lifesaving efforts on August 16, 2018, in Westminster.
