Vermont State Police identified Brady McGee as the officer who shot a resident at the end of a daylong standoff at a Riverside Avenue apartment complex on Sunday.
Police also identified Aaron Loucks, 32, of Burlington, as the man who was injured in the incident.
Burlington police officers responded to a disturbance at the complex that morning, but Loucks “barricaded himself inside his residence,” according to a Tuesday press release from the state police. A confrontation with police began when he exited the apartment.
Officers tried non-deadly force measures that were unsuccessful before McGee “discharged his patrol rifle, shooting Loucks,” the press release stated.
Following the police shooting, Loucks remains in custody while receiving medical treatment at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He’s facing two misdemeanor charges of aggravated disorderly conduct, one for abusive obscene language and the other for threat of bodily injury or violence.
Meanwhile, McGee remains on paid administrative leave pending a Vermont State Police investigation into his use of force, according to the press release.
It isn’t the first time Loucks has faced criminal charges that raised concerns about his mental health. And it isn’t the first time McGee has been placed on leave by the police department.
In 2021, Loucks faced federal charges for possession of a firearm while using drugs after he allegedly threatened to disrupt Covid-19 vaccine distribution.
“Loucks has struggled with psychological and drug addiction issues since high school,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney General’s Office in Vermont about the 2021 charges.
Court documents show that residents called police after Loucks was yelling death threats and racial slurs out of his apartment window.
One person reported that Loucks yelled something similar to “I am the bringer of death,” while gesturing with his hands that he was pointing an imaginary gun at them. Another person reported that Loucks was screaming the “N-word” at Black children playing outside the building and called one Black neighbor a “slave.”
When police responded to the scene, Loucks flashed a knife blade at officers from a second story window and said “I want all of you to die,” court records show.
One neighbor at the scene on Sunday afternoon told VTDigger she heard the suspect screaming and threatening police, and that the standoff had escalated throughout the day.
Following the shooting, the Burlington Police Officer’s Association issued a statement in support of McGee’s use of force.
“We at the BPOA are very proud of how our officers handled this extremely volatile, dynamic and dangerous situation,” the union wrote in its statement.
McGee joined Burlington’s police department in 2018, then left to join another department in Connecticut in 2022 before returning to Burlington’s department later that year.
During his second stint with the department, McGee was placed on paid administrative leave in December 2023 after allegedly driving his motorcycle up to 100 miles per hour alongside other police officers while off duty, according to Seven Days.
For that incident, McGee was charged with negligent operation after the incident and pleaded not guilty, Seven Days reported.
