Police continue to refuse to say whether a Florida man who was fatally shot by a Rutland police corporal inside a McDonald’s restaurant in Rutland more than a week ago was armed.
In addition, investigators have yet to question city police Cpl. Christopher Rose in the Aug. 25 shooting of Jonathan Daniel Mansilla, 33, of Coral Gables, Florida.
Capt. Scott Dunlap, head of the state police Major Crime Unit, said Thursday that he would not release information about whether Mansilla was armed until after his agency had questioned Rose.
When that questioning will take place remains unclear.
Dunlap said investigators have been in talks with an attorney representing Rose to try to set up a time to interview the corporal.
“We’ll be talking again this week to see if he’s going to conduct an interview with us,” Dunlap said. “Nothing’s been scheduled yet.”
If Rose refuses to be questioned, Dunlap said, state police will decide whether to release information about whether Mansilla was armed.
“We’re just waiting to see whether this interview will happen or not,” Dunlap said, later adding, “We can’t make him talk to us.”
Rose is represented through his union, the New England Police Benevolent Association, by attorney Susan Edwards, according to Rutland City Police Chief Brian Kilcullen. Edwards could not be reached Thursday for comment.
The shooting took place at about 3 p.m. Aug. 25 inside the McDonald’s on Route 7 in Rutland.
Less than two hours earlier, a hit-and-run crash was reported in the parking lot of the Goodwill store on North Main Street in Rutland, according to police. Law enforcement agencies were alerted to be on the lookout for Mansilla’s vehicle, a black 2009 Chevrolet Cobalt.
After spotting the car at different locations in towns near Rutland, police said, the chase culminated with Mansilla crashing his vehicle into a UPS delivery truck near the corner of Allen Street and Route 7, known locally as South Main Street.
According to police, Mansilla then ran into the McDonald’s located at that intersection. Inside the restaurant, police said, there was an “altercation” — which police have refused to describe — and Rose shot Mansilla in the chest. Mansilla was pronounced dead at the scene.
Kilcullen, Rutland’s police chief, said Thursday the department does not have body cameras. Cruisers, he said, are equipped with dash cameras, though they didn’t capture the shooting inside the restaurant.
According to Dunlap, the state police captain, the shooting inside the restaurant was “partially out of the view of the cameras.” He added that there were some witnesses to “part of the interaction” between Rose and Mansilla.
In several other fatal shootings by an officer, state police have released information about whether the person was armed shortly after the shooting occurred.
For example, a day after police shot and killed a robbery suspect in January 2018 during a standoff on a field at Montpelier High School, police released an image of the Umarex 40XP BB pistol he had been holding.
Asked Thursday what makes the Rutland case different from some other ones, Dunlap reiterated that a decision would be made after Rose decides whether to participate in an interview.
Kilcullen said Thursday he couldn’t comment on the case, referring questions to the state police, the agency conducting the investigation.
