A state trooper shot and killed a man who appeared to be in a mental health crisis in Putney on Monday. Authorities say the trooper saw what he believed was a firearm in the man's hand and the man didn’t respond to commands, according to a press release from Vermont State Police.
The situation began late Sunday night when police got a call about a mental health concern at an apartment at Putney Landing. A mental health worker embedded with the state police addressed the concern over the phone, and troopers did not go to the scene, police say.
On Monday morning, police received two more calls from Putney Landing, including a report at 11:30 a.m. that Scott Garvey was outside "exhibiting concerning behavior and making threatening statements,” police say. Troopers responded to the scene, along with a mental health caseworker. Garvey then barricaded himself inside his apartment and continued to make threatening statements, including talking about self-harm, according to police.
The caseworker and police tried to communicate with Garvey and also spoke to neighbors who reported threatening behavior by Garvey, police say. Troopers got a search warrant to enter Garvey’s apartment and arrest him on charges of criminal threatening and disorderly conduct. They entered the residence at about 4:30 p.m., according to the state police.
Police say when they entered the apartment Garvey was holding an object that they believed was a firearm. Garvey did not respond to commands, police say, and Trooper Peter Romeo shot and killed him.
After the shooting, police say they searched Garvey’s apartment and did not find any firearms.
The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of Garvey’s death was gunshot wounds to the torso and left lower extremity, and that the manner of death was a homicide.
Romeo joined the Vermont State Police in 2022 and has worked out of the Westminster Barracks since graduating from the police academy in January 2023. He is on paid administrative leave, a standard procedure after a police shooting.
The Vermont Attorney General’s office, the Windham County State’s Attorney’s Office and state police’s internal affairs office will conduct independent reviews of the incident.
Windham and Windsor Housing Trust, which owns and manages the Putney Landing apartments, wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday it was “deeply saddened” by the incident.
“Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the individual, and with the entire Putney community, especially those directly impacted,” the housing trust said. “We also extend our appreciation to all responding personnel for their professionalism, compassion and the difficult work they face in moments of crisis.”
Police shootings are infrequent in Vermont, but there’s been a longstanding pattern that when they do occur, they involve a person in a mental health crisis.
Those incidents include the 2019 fatal shooting of Mark Johnson, who brandished a pellet gun in Montpelier, the fatal 2016 shooting of Burlington resident Ralph Grenon while he was in the midst of a psychotic break, and the 2006 fatal shooting of Joseph Fortunati, who suffered from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia and, according to law enforcement, pointed a gun at police before being killed.
