BURLINGTON — A Burlington police officer shot at a suspect on Sunday evening after a standoff with police on Riverside Avenue escalated throughout the day. Vermont State Police are currently investigating the shooting, according to a press release.
While police said in the release that the suspect is currently in custody and receiving medical care for sustained injuries, they did not explicitly say that the man was injured by the officer. The officer who fired at the man remains unidentified and has been placed on paid administrative leave by the department.
The Burlington Police Department responded to a disturbance at the man’s apartment building at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, then announced in a later press release that there was an active incident on the road involving a person in crisis.
By early afternoon, police had blocked off the street between Intervale Avenue and Bright Street. Police officers could be seen standing in the building’s parking lot, crouched over a police cruiser with their guns drawn and pointing toward the back of the building.
Kenna Dwinell, who lives in the apartment complex, heard the suspect “yelling and screaming and threatening the police all day,” she said.
The confrontation started that morning when Dwinell said she woke up to police presence outside the building. She was asked to leave around 11:30 a.m. noting that since then the situation had clearly escalated, she said on Sunday afternoon. Dwinell was part of a small group of residents and community members who stood across the street and watched as police and first responders swarmed the site.
Dwinell said she contacted police about the same man on Friday after he appeared to be in a mental health crisis and was destroying her outside Halloween decorations. Before that incident, the man seemed quiet, and she had never heard any complaints from other residents about him, she said.
The road remained blocked off into the night on Sunday. Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit is investigating the incident, Vermont State Police said in their release.
