BURLINGTON — A Pennsylvania police officer fired a gun into the ground near bystanders during a multi-agency training exercise at the former L.L. Bean building in Burlington on Monday.
In response to questions from VTDigger, Acting Chief Jon Murad of the Burlington Police Department called the gunshot a “negligent discharge.” The training, conducted by a national vendor, was facilitated by the Burlington and South Burlington police departments, he said.
The weapon was fired on Monday afternoon while at least six employees from the nearby Outdoor Gear Exchange sat on or stood near a concrete wall that separates the store’s loading dock from the former L.L. Bean building’s ramp.
According to footage captured by Outdoor Gear Exchange’s security camera, which the company allowed VTDigger to review, several unmarked police vehicles were parked on the L.L. Bean side of the ramp as officers arrived to carry equipment to the building.
The video, which does not include audio, shows a couple of officers standing near an open door of a police vehicle around 1:30 p.m. when the Outdoor Gear Exchange staffers suddenly look over at the officers, apparently startled. All the employees then move inside the store, the video shows.
Burlington Police Department spokesperson Sarah Hernandez Timm said in a written statement on Wednesday that a Pennsylvania officer’s gun went off “as the officer unloaded his weapon in advance of participating in a multi-agency tactical training.”
The round struck the ground, Hernandez Timm said. No injuries or property damage were reported.
Neither the officer nor the department where he worked were identified.
A Burlington police detective supervisor went to the scene and “spoke to the officer who discharged his weapon and assessed the site” before a deputy chief contacted the officer’s superiors, Hernandez Timm wrote.
Staff at Outdoor Gear Exchange quickly reported the incident to director of retail operations Virginia Farley, who said she was inside at the time. Farley said the employees, who had been trying to enjoy Monday’s warm weather, initially weren’t sure whether it was a gunshot and only knew they were “spooked” by the loud noise, Farley said.
Outdoor Gear Exchange owner Marc Sherman, who was not outside among the employees, identified a hole in the pavement — about 10 feet from where staff had been sitting — as the bullet hole.
The shallow cavity, roughly two inches across, is punctuated by a smaller indentation in the center. It appears to align with the area where the officers were standing in the security camera footage.
Sherman expressed frustration that the store had no advance warning of the training event, pointing out that the sidewalk nearby is frequently used by high school students. The downtown Burlington High School, located in the former Macy’s, is a short distance away on Cherry Street.
“I’m concerned that a multi-agency tactical training event was planned for downtown Burlington at all, was planned in proximity to Church Street, two high schools, a bus station and retail business and that no one was informed that this was happening, period,” Sherman said.
Farley said staff knew something was happening only because they saw several “heavily armed” police officers arrive on the ramp behind their store, which she called a “jarring sight.”
No one from the training reached out to the store following the discharge, she said.
“I would hope that if a gunshot went off in my vicinity that police officers on hand would make sure that people are OK,” Farley said.
The Burlington Police Department did not publicly disclose the accidental gunshot until VTDigger inquired about it.
A spokesperson for Mayor Miro Weinberger said he was unavailable on Wednesday.
Murad said in an interview Wednesday that he was not at the training but said he thought the vendor — the Colorado-based National Tactical Officers Association, which runs law enforcement training and conferences — should bear responsibility for notification.
“The expectation is that the training entity does that and posts and says ‘training is going on in this location,’” Murad said. He pledged the Burlington Police Department would “proactively take it upon ourselves” to notify the public of any future training it takes part in, whether it hosts it or not.
Shawn Burke, the South Burlington police chief, also pointed to the vendor when asked about the responsibility of notifying neighbors.
Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association, said in an interview Wednesday afternoon that the company provides instructions to the hosting agencies as to their responsibilities.
“We do not dictate nor direct how they manage notifications of training in respective areas,” Eells said. “Normally, agencies have their own protocols that they tend to follow with regard to police training.”
On the selection of the site, Eells said the organization asks the hosting agency to identify a training site to match “course objectives.”
While Murad expressed sympathy for how the Outdoor Gear Exchange employees were affected, he said he thought the location itself “wouldn’t have raised issues” with proper signage. Previous tactical trainings in the city have taken place in the former high school building, he said.
He also questioned the Pennsylvania officer’s approach.
“Why a Pennsylvania officer had his patrol rifle loaded in that fashion is nothing that we do as a matter of policy here in Vermont,” he said.
Farley reached out to Murad later on Monday afternoon to outline what happened but also to express “disappointment” about the communication around the training and apparent gunshot.
In an emailed response, Murad told Farley that the “multi-agency” training was “cohosted” by the Burlington and South Burlington police departments. The training, billed on the Vermont Criminal Justice Council’s website as “Basic SWAT,” continued this week in Colchester.
One of the Outdoor Gear Exchange employees who was outside filed a citizen complaint to the city, according to Farley. In his response to Farley, Murad acknowledged the complaint but said, “Our ability to redress the incident is limited, however, since the person is not a City of Burlington employee.”
L.L. Bean left the Burlington location last year and the building has been empty as the nearby CityPlace construction ramps up. A forthcoming phase of that project is expected to include the former L.L. Bean building.
