This article was updated at 7:40 p.m.
BRISTOL – Two troopers shot and critically wounded a domestic violence suspect late Tuesday night in Bristol after he refused their orders to drop a shotgun during a confrontation with the officers, according to Vermont State Police.
State Police Maj. Dan Trudeau said the suspect, 28-year-old Greg West, was taken by helicopter to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington for treatment. He was listed Wednesday morning in critical but stable condition after coming out of surgery.
“I don’t really have a lot of details on his injuries,” Trudeau said, adding, “Troopers did fire multiple rounds.”
Trudeau, speaking late Wednesday morning during a briefing with reporters at the state police barracks in New Haven, said he doesn’t know at this time how many times, or where, West had been shot.
According to a preliminary investigation, Trudeau said, a relative of West called police around 9:50 p.m. Tuesday from a home on the Lower Notch Road reporting that West was intoxicated and threatening and had damaged the home.
The caller also said that there were several children inside the residence and West had a shotgun. Trudeau said there were five people in the house — West, the relative and three children.
Two state police troopers and an officer with the Bristol Police Department responded and found West on the steep driveway between the home and the road, according to Trudeau.
The troopers and the officer, he said, tried through verbal exchanges to get West to put down his shotgun.
“This went back and forth for several minutes,” Trudeau said. “From what I’m aware of, and what I heard thus far, they put a considerable effort into trying to get him to de-escalate and put down his weapon.”
However, Trudeau said, West refused and the two troopers fired multiple rounds from their patrol rifles, striking West several times, Trudeau said.
The Bristol officer did not fire, he said.
Trudeau said he couldn’t comment at this point if there was a specific act by West that prompted the troopers to fire.
“We haven’t interviewed them yet,” he said of the troopers, “so I can’t say.”
The two troopers and the Bristol officers provided aid to West and an ambulance was called to the scene, according to Trudeau.
No one else was injured in the incident, he said.
Trudeau said as the investigation was still in the early stages he didn’t know the make, model or whether West’s shotgun was loaded.
“That will be forthcoming at some point,” the major said.
The major did say that West was known to police, though he didn’t immediately know of West’s past criminal history.
A check at the Addison County criminal court in Middlebury did not reveal any prior convictions for West, though he had several charges, including drunken driving, excessive speed, and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, dismissed last year.
On Wednesday, a large state police crime scene truck was parked on Lower Notch Road near the bottom of the driveway, which was blocked by yellow crime scene tape.
Investigators could be seen taking measurements and photographs, and a pair of what appeared to be work boots were at the bottom of the driveway. It wasn’t clear if those boots belonged to West.
Many neighbors along the road weren’t home early Wednesday afternoon, or didn’t answer their doors.
Christine and Sean Stoltz live in a home that has a shared driveway with the West residence and the couple rents from Greg West’s father.
“It’s scary,” Christine Stoltz said Wednesday afternoon watching from the bottom of the steep driveway as investigators gathered evidence.
“We never thought anything like this would happen,” she added. “They seemed to be nice people, a loving family.”
Christine Stoltz said she and her 4-year-old daughter were sleeping at the time of the shooting, which took place about 30 yards from her home.
Her husband Sean Stoltz, said he was awake and heard about six to nine gunshots. He said he because of where the windows are located in his home he couldn’t see clearly what was taking place outside.
“I only heard yelling after the gunshots,” he said, adding that he couldn’t make out what the person was saying.
Sean Stoltz said he was startled when he heard gunshots, but not scared.
“I just got up and said, ‘What was that?’” he said. “Then I realized, oh, those are police. We should be fine with these walls, they’re over there and we’re over here.”
Christine Stoltz talked about peeking under the curtains trying to catch glimpses of what was transpiring outside.
The couple say they have lived in the home for about a year, and other than exchanging greetings when they see their neighbors they rarely interact.
Vermont State Police are leading the probes into the shooting and domestic violence call.
Trudeau said investigators were still trying to determine if the shooting was captured on video by police cameras, including dash cams from the cruisers.
“We’re examining that now,” the major said.
The names of the troopers involved in the shooting will not be released until the initial stages of the investigation are complete, per state police protocol, Trudeau said.
They will be put on administrative leave for at least five days. They will then return to administrative duty while the investigation remains under review by the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Addison County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The shooting Tuesday night was the fifth involving a Vermont State Police trooper this year, one more than last year when there were four shootings involving state police troopers. There was one shooting involving a Vermont State Police trooper in 2017 and none in 2016.
In those shootings involving state police troopers, once investigations were complete, the troopers actions were deemed justified by the Vermont Attorney’s General’s Office and the local county attorney’s offices.
“It’s a big concern to us,” Trudeau said of the number of shootings involving troopers so far this year.
“It’s definitely alarming, the numbers have increased quite a bit,” he said. “We take training as a high priority, we take equipment, protection equipment, as a high priority, and I think some of the stuff that we do for our agency is helpful to protecting the troopers.”
The Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, Crime Scene Search Team and Field Force Division are conducting investigations into the domestic violence incident leading to the call to police as well as the officer-involved shooting.
The incident Tuesday night took place about three miles from where state police spent Tuesday investigating a murder-suicide on the Upper Notch Road earlier this week.
Trudeau said the two incidents are not related.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Domestic violence suspect, shot by troopers, reported in critical condition.