Man stabbed to death on Church Street in broad daylight

[B]URLINGTON — A city man was stabbed to death Wednesday afternoon at the Church Street Marketplace in the heart of downtown, police said.

Officers were called to the intersection of Church and Cherry streets shortly after the stabbing occurred at 1:50 p.m.

Richard Medina, 43, was stabbed multiple times in the neck and back. He was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center and pronounced dead at 2:19 p.m., according to Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo.

Louis Fortier, 36, is the suspect in a Church Street killing. Photo courtesy of Burlington Police Department

Louis Fortier, 36, surrendered to officers at the scene, according to police. Witnesses identified him as the person who stabbed Medina. Video recovered by police “appears to support these assertions,” del Pozo said in an email to local media.

Police are treating the incident as a homicide and are not pursuing other suspects, he said.

Del Pozo described both men as transients and said the altercation that led to Medina’s killing “does not appear to have been random.”

Police believe Fortier recently traveled to Burlington from Massachusetts. He has been arrested in the past on charges that included assault with intent to murder, armed bank robbery, aggravated assault and assault on a police officer, del Pozo said. The chief’s email does not say if Fortier has ever been convicted.

Medina has been in Burlington since at least 2013 and has had frequent interactions with city police, the chief said, many of which occurred at the Church Street Marketplace or on North Street in the Old North End.

“His involvements were as a person of interest, arrestee or suspect in various assault, trespass, intoxication, disturbance, domestic and mental health calls,” del Pozo said.

Members of the public who witnessed Medina’s killing and have not spoken to police are encouraged to call Burlington Police Detective Jamie Morris at 802-540-2254.