Updated at 10:16 p.m.
A man fatally shot Tuesday morning in a hospital parking lot has been identified as a resident of St. Johnsbury, Vermont State Police said late Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities also provided new details into the investigation of a car spotted in the area where the shooting took place. Police said that vehicle later was found in New York state, stopped by spike strips while fleeing from a traffic stop.
Police said Vincent Keithan, 44, died of a single gunshot wound to his neck. The manner of his death has been ruled a homicide according to findings from an autopsy conducted Wednesday by the state’s chief medical examiner’s office in Burlington.
The investigation into his shooting death Tuesday morning in a parking lot of the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury remains ongoing, police said late Wednesday afternoon in a news release.
Investigators have said they believe Keithan’s killing was drug-related and that he had been “targeted” and those involved were “associated.”
The shooting in the parking lot Tuesday morning sent the hospital into lockdown. Hospital officials have said the victim was not affiliated with hospital staff or a patient.
Police released few details Wednesday afternoon about a gray Jeep that was wanted in connection with the fatal shooting that had been located late Tuesday afternoon. On Tuesday evening, police had said that members of “law enforcement are speaking with the vehicle’s occupants.”
Police said Wednesday afternoon that in order to not compromise the investigation they would only say that the Jeep had been located by law enforcement outside the state of Vermont.
Investigators had earlier described the vehicle that had been captured on surveillance video around the time of the shooting at 8:40 a.m. Tuesday as a Jeep Wrangler with Connecticut license plates.
Later Wednesday night, police provided additional information about the Jeep. Police said the vehicle was spotted by New York State Police around 5 p.m. Tuesday near Route 199 in the town of Milan in Columbia County. Milan is about 265 miles from St. Johnsbury.
New York State Police troopers “initiated a traffic stop,” but the Jeep’s driver fled, leading to a short pursuit, police said. Troopers deployed spike strips to end the pursuit, and then the driver and passenger ran into the woods, only to be found a short time later, according to police.
The passenger was not injured and was subsequently released, police said, while the Jeep’s driver was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. The driver remains hospitalized and is in stable condition, according to New York State Police.
No one “is currently in custody related to the homicide of Vincent Keithan,” Vermont State Police said in the later release. Additional information was not immediately available Wednesday night.
Police said they continue to seek the public’s help, asking that anyone with relevant information to call the Vermont State Police in St. Johnsbury at 802-748-3111 or submit tips anonymously online at vsp.vermont.gov/tipsubmit.
