Updated at 10:01 p.m.
RUTLAND — Vermont State Police said a 26-year-old New York man died after he was struck in a targeted shooting in Rutland on Monday.
Jonathan Naranjo, 26, of Brooklyn, New York, was killed after he was shot and then crashed his vehicle, according to a press release from state police Tuesday evening. He was the only person in the car at the time of the crash, according to Capt. Scott Dunlap, head of the state police’s Major Crime Unit.
An autopsy performed earlier Tuesday at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington determined Naranjo’s cause of death to be gunshot wounds to his torso and upper extremities. His manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to the release.
“He was shot before the crash, so he probably crashed as a result of the shooting,” Dunlap told VTDigger.
No one is in custody related to the shooting, Dunlap said.
Asked why police believe the man was targeted, Dunlap replied, “Just from the background information we have from the interviews that we’ve done. Obviously I can’t get into the details.”
Police were notified around 4:15 p.m. Monday of a crash at the intersection of State Street and Cleveland Avenue, followed by a second call reporting a shooting in the area, according to a state police press release issued Monday evening.
Responding officers found a vehicle had crashed into a parked car, with the driver, later identified as Naranjo, having suffered gunshot wounds, Rutland City police said in a press release Monday night. Officers aided Naranjo, but responding medical personnel pronounced him dead at the scene, Rutland police said.
The parked car was unoccupied at the time of the crash, according to Rutland Police Chief Brian Kilcullen.
The police chief also said Tuesday afternoon that authorities believe the shooting took place in the area where Emmett Avenue intersects with State Street, before the crash happened about a quarter-mile east. Shell casings were recovered from the scene, he said.
Police have been active in the area where the shooting and crash took place in recent days, Kilcullen said, executing search warrants at different locations leading to arrests of drug charges.
Police seized illegal drugs and firearms in those raids, according to court filings.
Kilcullen said Tuesday afternoon he didn’t know whether the incident Monday was related to the recent execution of search warrants in the area.
A portion of State Street was still closed to traffic late Tuesday morning as a law enforcement officer with a dog looked for evidence in the area.
“They’re checking the area again today for additional evidence — during the daylight — that could be in the roadway,” Dunlap said.
He said investigators were interviewing witnesses and compiling video surveillance from the area where the shooting took place.
Rutland City police said in a press release that they “do not believe there is a greater threat to the community” but encouraged residents to report “suspicious behavior.”