This article was last updated at 10:10 p.m on Oct. 8.
RUTLAND – Vermont State Police identified the man killed early Tuesday in an early-morning shootout with officers as Christopher G. Louras, 33, of Rutland, the son of former Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras.
Police say they believe the younger Louras allegedly opened fire after driving up to the entrance of the Rutland City Police Department on Tuesday morning, and later exchanged fire with officers investigating the incident.
Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the state police criminal division, said at a press conference late Tuesday afternoon that authorities are investigating a link between the shooting in downtown Rutland and a possible homicide in Salisbury.
In that case, the body of a man, who Trudeau would not identify, was discovered early Tuesday afternoon off Route 53, also known as Lake Dunmore Road.
“We have not identified that person yet, although we suspect we know who he is,” the major said. “We’re not even at the point that we want to preliminary identify that subject yet. We’re treating that as a homicide.”
He then added, “We do believe there are ties between that incident in Salisbury as well as this one down here in the city.”
The scene in Salisbury is about a 40-minute drive from downtown Rutland.
Former Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras served five two-year terms as the city’s top elected official.
He lost a reelection bid in a four-way Town Meeting Day race in March 2017 to David Allaire, a veteran member of the city’s Board of Aldermen. Louras blamed his defeat on his support of a plan to resettle refugees from Syria and Iraq in the city.
Louras was at the downtown Rutland shooting scene early Tuesday morning, talking with Rutland City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen for several minutes.
Louras declined comment to a VTDigger reporter at the scene.
Kilcullen, speaking later Tuesday, declined to discuss the details of the conversation with the former mayor.
“I won’t talk to the content or characterize his words, it’s probably what you expect,” the police chief said.
Trudeau said he wouldn’t say why investigators believe the Rutland shooting is connected to the Salisbury homicide.
“I can’t really get too, too deep into that because it’s kind of early,” he said. “But, through the investigation we’ve done so far today, we believe there is a connection between both individuals.”
Several troopers were at the scene in Salisbury on Tuesday evening. It is located near a drive adjacent to Keewaydin Camp, a closed summer camp on Lake Dunmore. The two-lane road was limited to one lane near the scene. There were no residences nearby.
The body, located just off the edge of the road, was reported to police by a person who spotted it while walking on the road at about 12:45 p.m. Tuesday, Trudeau said.
The major wouldn’t say if the younger Louras was a suspect in that homicide. “It’s too early to draw that conclusion,” he said.
Louras shot up the police station on Wales Street around 5:30 a.m., firing multiple times into the building’s front entrance and then fleeing the scene, Trudeau said.
“The surveillance cameras that the police department has, they were able to identify the vehicle and its registration,” the major said.
Trudeau said police later located the white Ford Focus around 7 a.m. near the Walmart in the downtown shopping plaza. “There was a pursuit, a few hundred yards,” he said.
The fleeing vehicle became lodged trying to cross a set of train tracks on the edge of the large parking lot near the Amtrak train station, Trudeau said.
“There was an exchange of gunfire between the police and the suspect driving the white vehicle,” he added.
The major said the younger Louras, armed with an “AR-15-style rifle and exchanged some fire towards the officers.” Four officers, including three from Rutland City and one from neighboring Rutland Town, fired shots at Louras, Trudeau said.
There were other officers on scene, but only those four opened fire, he said.
Louras was struck and injured, and pronounced dead after being brought by ambulance to Rutland Regional Medical Center.
There were no injuries to police or other civilians.
Trudeau said he wasn’t sure who fired first, the officers or Louras, or how many times he had been shot.
“There is a lot of information still that is out there,” he said. “I don’t know all of it quite yet.”
Trudeau said he wasn’t sure if any of the shootout was captured on a cruiser dash cam. Rutland City police officers do not have body cams. Kilcullen, the Rutland City Police chief, said that a city police cruiser parked the closest to Louras’ vehicle had a dash cam in it.
The white, four-door Ford Focus remained near the railroad tracks throughout the morning, with its front driver’s side door swung open. About 25 feet behind sat a Rutland City Police cruiser, and to its driver side, also about 25 feet away, was an unmarked police car.
All of the vehicles had yellow folded up markers nearby indicating where a shell casing had been located.
Further back two unmarked police vehicles, an SUV and a pickup truck, both had doors open and many more yellow markers around them.
A swarm of city police and state police investigators spent the morning combing the scene for evidence, blocking off a large side section of the shopping center’s parking lot with yellow crime scene tape.
They took measurements and photos to document the scene and even launched a drone to get an aerial view.
Nathan Stevens of Rutland was walking in Depot Park in downtown Rutland at the time of the shooting, about 100 yards from the scene.
“There was bang, bang, and then a couple seconds went by and then it was bang, bang and after those last two bangs is when it started going off,” he said. “That’s when the shooting really started.”
Stevens said it was difficult to see what was happening because of the morning fog. He captured some of the shooting on video on his cellphone, but had trouble playing it back due to space limitations on his phone.
It did capture some images as well as the sounds of the shooting, he said.
Kasi Lincoln, who lives not far from the shooting scene, said she didn’t see what happened, but she heard it. She was out on her porch having a morning smoke when she heard gunshots.
“All of a sudden I started hearing pops,” she said. “I realized it was inconsistent for fireworks.”
She said she then drove by the scene and realized that a shooting had taken place.
The shooting scene, which blocked the tracks, caused Amtrak to temporarily cancel trains.
Many people walked or drove up the scene to get a look, watching on as investigators worked to piece together what had transpired. Several bystanders said they heard the morning gunshots, but did not see what led up to them.
Trudeau said he didn’t have an exact number of shots fired in the shootout. “As you probably heard from witnesses in the area, there was a considerable amount of gunfire,” he said.
The major said he has no idea what prompted the shooting at the Rutland City police station. Trudeau also said he wasn’t aware of a criminal record for the younger Louras.
All four officers involved in the Rutland shooting are currently on paid leave, as per protocol, according to Trudeau. He did not identify those officers; state police procedure is to wait 24 hours before releasing the identity of the officers involved in shootings.
State police are heading the investigation in Rutland, even though the city has its own police force, as its was an officer-involved shooting.
Once that investigation is complete, it will be reviewed by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office as well as the Rutland County State’s Attorney Office, as is done with all officer-involved shootings.
Trudeau said he didn’t have an exact number of state police personnel involved in the investigation between Rutland and Salisbury, but estimated 20 crime scene investigators plus another 20 state police detectives as well about a dozen more patrol troopers.
“There’s a substantial number of resources,” he said.
Xander Landen and Colin Meyn contributed reporting.
