Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo addresses reporters at a news conference. Photo by Morgan True / VTDigger
This story was updated at 1:43 p.m. with comment from Mayor Miro Weinberger.
BURLINGTON — An hourslong standoff ended Monday night when police shot and killed a man in his downtown apartment who was threatening to kill himself or his neighbors, officials say.
In an interview with reporters at the scene Monday night, Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo said the man was facing eviction from his 101 College St. apartment and suffered from mental illness, according to a video posted by the Burlington Free Press.
Police received multiple calls that the man, whom state police have identified as Ralph “Phil” Grenon, was acting threateningly, del Pozo said. One call came from a crisis worker and another from the property manager, police said.
Grenon, 76, refused to allow the officers into his apartment when they arrived just after 5 p.m. When they entered the apartment Grenon was brandishing two large kitchen knives, police say. Grenon ignored officers’ commands to drop the knives, and a Taser they used “was not effective,” according to a news release from state police.
Officers made repeated attempts over the next several hours to communicate with Grenon from outside the apartment. They drilled holes in his door to see if they could see Grenon with a camera to establish he was unharmed.
When that didn’t work, officers entered the apartment hoping to check on Grenon’s welfare, according to police. Officers entered with tactical shields, announcing their presence. They discovered Grenon in his bathroom with the shower curtain drawn, still holding at least one knife, police said.
Officers backed away and continued to urge Grenon to come out of the shower. At one point they used “pepper balls” to try to get him out of the bathroom.
When officers approached the shower for a final time, they say, Grenon thrust one of the two knives he was holding at an officer, who again tried to use a Taser on him. Grenon was still able to step out of the shower toward officers exiting the bathroom, police said.
One officer shot multiple times as he backed out of the bathroom into an adjoining bedroom, striking Grenon, according to police.
Grenon was taken by emergency responders at the scene to UVM Medical Center and was pronounced dead at 10:02 p.m., police said.
Del Pozo told reporters at the scene that officers were in touch with Grenon’s mental health providers and repeatedly attempted to resolve the situation with less than lethal devices.
“I wish it had turned out differently, but you’ll see when the evidence is recovered there are two large, large kitchen knives in a tiny bedroom. The rest will come out during the course of the investigation, but this was anything but cavalier, anything but rushed,” del Pozo said.
“We really had this man’s welfare in mind, but it doesn’t seem he made that easy on us,” del Pozo added.
Del Pozo said there is body camera footage from the incident that would confirm officers’ version of events.
State police detectives are investigating the officer involved in the shooting. Their report will be reviewed by the Chittenden County state’s attorney’s office and the attorney general’s office to see if the shooting was justified.
Officials are not releasing the name of the officer who shot Grenon.
Del Pozo issued a brief written statement early Tuesday morning, saying further detail would become available through the state police investigation into the officer-involved shooting.
“We fully support this important exercise of democratic oversight of our use of deadly force,” del Pozo said. “We expect the full disclosure of facts, identities and evidence as the process of law allows.”
In an interview Tuesday, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said his thoughts were with Grenon’s family and friends, and said he wished the incident had ended differently.
Burlington police officers acted deliberately and with patience during a trying situation that put several of them in harm’s way, he said, adding that his thoughts are also with those officers.
“From everything I know at this point, pending the Vermont State Police investigation, I believe the Police Department, led by Chief del Pozo, took many steps to avoid the use of lethal force. Those steps were informed by recent training and awareness of national best practices,” Weinberger said.
In addition to the state police investigation, there will be “considerable internal review” of the body camera footage to assess what, if anything, police could have done to avoid using lethal force Monday and what additional resources might help avoid police killings in the future, he said.
Grenon’s killing is the second time in three months that police have fatally shot a city resident inside the person’s apartment. On Dec. 22 officers with a drug task force raided the Elmwood Avenue apartment of a suspected drug dealer. Two officers shot the man after police say he pointed a rifle at them.
In November 2013, Burlington police officers shot and killed a mentally ill man in front of his New North End home after the man wielded a shovel as he approached an officer.
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