BURLINGTON — Police have arrested a second suspect in the shooting death of a man in his home in the Old North End in April.
Peter Nguyen, 27, turned himself in at the Burlington Police Department Friday afternoon after consulting with a lawyer, according to police. He is due to be arraigned on a second-degree murder charge on Monday.
A second suspect in the case, Octavious Allen-Napier, was arrested last week for violating parole and on suspicion of federal firearm charges after a high-speed chase that ended at the Colchester weigh station on Interstate 89. At a press conference Friday, police said Allen-Napier will face “similar” charges as Nguyen for the homicide.
Steven Martin, 38, was shot and killed at his North Avenue residence around 11:30 p.m. on April 26. Martin was pronounced dead at the University of Vermont Medical Center shortly after the shooting.
Police said the two suspects, both of whom Martin knew, pushed into Martin’s apartment and engaged in a gunfight with Martin before his death.
At the press conference Friday, police called the shooting “a real who-dunnit,” saying at the time of the incident, it was unclear who was responsible for the murder. After two weeks of investigation, law enforcement said they felt confident in their arrests of Nguyen and Allen-Napier.
Interim Chief Jennifer Morrison said within the span of two weeks, Burlington police responded to four different shootings, which she said was “pretty much unheard of” for the department. Morrison said each of the four shootings was “completely different” and there appears to be no pattern or reason why the city has seen a pattern of shootings in recent weeks.
“I certainly think we need to be vigorous in our attempts to keep firearms out of the hands of people who are convicted felons or otherwise disqualified from owning firearms,” Morrison said. “I think we certainly could pursue public policy reform in that area.”
According to an affidavit by Detective Thomas Chenette, the dispute between Martin and the two suspects dates back two years, to a bar fight in downtown Burlington in which Martin punched Allen-Napier in the face.
As Martin was being taken into custody by police that night, Allen-Napier repeatedly told Martin to “remember my face,” according to the affidavit. Shortly thereafter, Allen-Napier was incarcerated in an unrelated incident, and was only recently released.
A few days before the shooting, Allen-Napier and a friend, Scott Brooks, ran into Martin and his brother at Simon’s Liquor Store on Shelburne Road, court papers state. The men reportedly shook hands, before Brooks “sucker punched” Martin in the mouth, according to the affidavit. During the altercation, Allen-Napier dropped his phone, and Martin took it home with him.
In interviews with police after his arrest, Allen-Napier confirmed punching a man at the liquor store, but acted surprised when police told him it was Martin that he punched, according to the affidavit.
He told police that he had realized his phone was lost about 15 minutes after the fight, and called Martin to negotiate its return. After his attempts were unsuccessful, he had Brooks message Martin to try to negotiate instead, court papers state.
In the messages, Brooks pleaded for the men to settle the argument with “fists instead of guns,” because no one needs to get “killed over a phone,” according to the affidavit.
Ultimately, Allen-Napier and Nguyen showed up at Martin’s residence with guns, according to the affidavit. Martin reportedly went downstairs and answered the door, and then ran back up to grab a gun of his own.
Both Allen-Napier and Nguyen told police that Martin started the shooting, and they were firing in self-defense, according to the affidavit. Seventeen shell casings were recovered from the scene of the shooting, police say.
After he was shot, Martin went upstairs, where his wife and two children, ages 5 and 14, were. He told his wife, “I’m dying, they shot me,” implying more than one shooter, according to the affidavit.
A friend of Allen-Napier told police after the shooting that Allen-Napier had asked her to store a gun in her purse, which she refused. He reportedly told the woman, “They’re following me,” the affidavit states.
A woman that Allen-Napier was dating, who had driven the car in the police chase that led to his arrest, told police in an interview that the day after the shooting Allen-Napier had told her, “I think I killed somebody.” He said he had gone to the house to get his phone back respectfully, but after Martin started shooting, he shot back, according to the affidavit.
Allen-Napier was charged by federal prosecutors with being a felon in possession of a firearm and being in possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number that had been shipped in interstate commerce.
Those charges arose from his alleged possession of a firearm that was recovered by police in connection with a May 2018 fight at the Marketplace Garage in downtown Burlington.
Nguyen had no prior criminal record. He was identified as the second shooter after a number of interviews with friends and acquaintances. One friend of Nguyen’s told police that Nguyen had said he was “just disappointed” that he had gotten into a gun fight with somebody over an iPhone and they died.
An autopsy revealed that Martin was shot twice, one bullet entering his left shoulder and hemorrhaging his left arm tissues, and the second entering his chest, fracturing his rib, and perforating his left lung and heart.
Nguyen is facing a minimum 20 years and possible life sentence for the crime.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Second suspect in Old North End shooting arrested.