This article was updated at 8:12 p.m. on Oct. 10.
RUTLAND — Police have identified the body of a man found on the edge of a road in Salisbury as Nicholas Louras, the nephew of former Rutland City Mayor Christopher Louras whose son, Christoper G. Louras, was killed Tuesday morning in a downtown shootout with police.
Vermont State Police, in a release issued Thursday morning, said 34-year-old Nicholas Louras of Rutland, who is the younger Christopher Louras’ cousin, died of gunshot wounds and his death is considered a homicide.
Police have said they believe there is a link between the Christopher Louras shootout in Rutland and the homicide probe in Salisbury, located about a 40-minute drive north away.
The homicide investigation in Salisbury began Tuesday afternoon after a passerby saw a body off the edge of Route 53 in the Addison County town.
There had been widespread speculation throughout the community that it was Nicholas Louras whose body was found in Salisbury, but it wasn’t until Thursday morning that police confirmed it after receiving results from an autopsy by the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington.
Who killed Nicholas Louras?
The release Thursday from Vermont State Police did not state what role, if any, the 33-year-old Christopher Louras may have had in Nicholas Louras’ death.
Adam Silverman, a Vermont State Police spokesperson, in a follow-up text wrote, “At this time we don’t have any additional information to share beyond what’s in the release.”
Maj. Dan Trudeau, head of the state police criminal division, reached Thursday via text, said it’s too early to comment on what role, if any, the younger Christopher Louras had in his cousin’s death.
“Further investigation, to include interviews, forensic examination and analysis of digital media is still necessary to establish factual evidence,” Trudeau wrote.
The release issued Thursday by state police said the investigation into the cases remain ongoing, “spanning multiple scenes.”
The statement added, “Among the pending components of the investigation is determining a possible motive for Christopher Louras’ actions.”
Asked later Thursday if police are seeking any suspect, or suspects, in Nicholas Louras’ homicide, Silverman replied in an email: “We are still in the investigative and fact-gathering stages, but at this point we have no information that leads us to believe we should be searching for a specific person or people responsible for the death in Salisbury.”
Christopher Louras had no criminal record on file at Rutland County Superior criminal court, and city police reported bringing no previous case against him.
Apart from the familial link between the Louras cousins, the vehicle Christopher Louras was driving at the time of the Rutland shootout was also connected to Nicholas.
Michael Maniery, Nicholas Louras’ roommate, told the Rutland Herald earlier this week that the car Christopher Louras was operating belonged to Nicholas Louras’ girlfriend.
The Herald also reported that Meniery said that Nicholas Louras’ cellphone stopped working around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday
Investigators have been tight-lipped throughout the week about the links between the shootout in Rutland and the body found in Salisbury, apart from saying they existed.
Gov. Phil Scott, at his weekly press conference Wednesday, said the cases may be tied to drugs.
“It appears that some of this could be drug-related,” the governor said. “We’re not sure at this point, the investigation is ongoing.”
Trudeau, who is leading the investigation for state police, said this week he couldn’t comment on whether drugs were a factor in either case, as the investigation remains ongoing.
Police have said they believe the younger Christopher Louras drove up to the Rutland City police station around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday and fired shots into the front entrance of the building.
About 90 minutes later, police located the vehicle he was in, a white Ford Focus, and after a short pursuit, Christopher Louras exchanged gunfire with four police officers. Louras was struck and killed. No officers were injured in the shootout.
The four officers who exchanged gunfire with Christopher Louras are on paid leave, as is protocol after an officer-involved shooting.
Many questions unanswered
VTDigger on Thursday afternoon emailed Silverman a list of questions regarding the investigation, and he declined to specifically answer them, except for the one about whether police were seeking any other suspects in Nicholas Louras’ death.
“We don’t have anything to add at this point beyond today’s news release and the response you received this morning from Maj. Trudeau,” Silverman wrote in an email.
Among the questions VTDigger posed are: What is the connection police see to the Salisbury homicide and Rutland shooting? When do police believe Nicholas Louras was killed? How many shots were fired by police and Christopher Louras in the Rutland shootout? How many times were each Christopher Louras and Nicholas Louras shot?
Nicholas Louras’ past drug arrests
Nicholas Louras was charged in federal court in Vermont in 2014 with conspiring to distribute heroin. He later pleaded guilty and received a time-served sentence after successfully completing a drug court program, court records state.
Also in 2014 Louras was arrested on drug charges in New York state, and a year earlier was charged in state court in Vermont with possession of crack cocaine in Clarendon, a charge that was later dismissed, according to court records.
When Nicholas Louras was charged in the 2014 federal case, his uncle, the elder Chirstopher Louras was mayor of Rutland and issued a statement, according to an Associated Press report at that time, saying “that the scourge of opiates can reach into and destroy any family.”
Nicholas Louras’ parents, Julie and Nico Louras, submitted a letter to the federal court before his sentencing in that case.
“As parents of Nicholas Louras, this has been a sad time for us,” the parents wrote. “Drugs are a horrible, horrible thing; it takes over a person’s life and affects all of us.”
The parents also wrote about their son’s plan to continue on with his education and to obtain work in the community.
In addition to being the nephew of former Rutland City Mayor Christopher Louras, Nicholas Louras is also the nephew of current Rutland City Mayor David Allaire.
‘Their place of work was attacked’
Allaire spoke Thursday afternoon in Rutland at the regular monthly meeting of Project Vision, a group of community organizations working to address the problems caused by illegal drugs and crime.
“A very tough week for the city of Rutland,” the mayor told the gathering of about 75 people. He then offered words of praise for the work of the law enforcement officers who responded to the events.
“There is no doubt that their actions saved many, many lives,” Allaire said of the police.
“I say that not only as your mayor, but I know that is also how the family feels, the Louras family,” Allaire said. “I know that because Nick Louras is my nephew.”
He added, “This shows that drugs and drug addiction, mental health issues, and whatever else precipitated these horrible events can happen to any family.”
The mayor then spoke how Project Vision was formed after the 2012 death of 17-year-old Carly Ferro who was leaving a store and was struck and killed by a vehicle.
Just before the crash, police said, the driver of that vehicle had been getting high by huffing aerosol from a can.
“I ask the question,” Allaire added in his address Thursday, “have all our efforts been in vain? My answer to that is an emphatic, ‘No.’ We have made tremendous strides in treatment, prevention, enforcement, and breaking down silos that were holding us back for far too long.”
He said he would work to redouble his efforts to support the goals of Project Vision, and urged others in the room to do the same.
“We need to continue our work, we need to step up efforts,” he said.
Asked in an interview after he spoke about his comments regarding the role of drug addiction and mental health issues in the cases, Allaire replied, “It’s still unfolding. I just know that it could very possibly have played a role.”
He then referred more specific questions to state police, the agency leading the investigation.
Lisa Ryan, a member of the city’s Board of Aldermen, was one of many city officials attending the meeting Thursday. She said during the break that she offered her condolences to the families involved and her support to the police.
“I think that something that’s really important to know is that, yes, it is a tragic event, and it didn’t just happen to a few folks, it happened to our city,” she said.
“Their place of work was attacked,” she said of officers and dispatchers at the police station at the time Christopher Louras fired on the building. “And they had to respond to that.”
Also at the Project Vision meeting Thursday, Rutland City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen took the stage and spoke. He thanked the community for the support the officers had received in recent days, adding that former mayor Louras was among those offering that support.
“No one blames the officers for what happened that day, and that’s a testament to the character of the Louras family,” Kilcullen said.
The police chief also talked of a message he received not long after the downtown Rutland shooting.
“Mayor Louras texted me and asked how the officers were,” Kilcullen added.
