Police fatally shoot man during Burlington drug raid

Law-enforcement officers shot and killed a man during a drug raid Tuesday night in Burlington.

The shooting occurred while the authorities were executing a federal search warrant at about 7 p.m. at 101 Elmwood Ave. Apartment C, according to the Vermont State Police and other records.

Law-enforcement agents were seeking evidence of drug trafficking, including heroin and cocaine, according to documents unsealed late Tuesday in federal court in Burlington.

The warrant, which allowed the police to enter without knocking first, was approved Monday by U.S. Magistrate Judge John Conroy and was to be executed before Jan. 4, records show.

"Preliminary investigation indicated that officers executing the search warrant confronted a male subject inside the residence," state police Maj. Glenn Hall said in a statement. "Officers discharged multiple rounds at the subject, resulting in his death. None of the officers involved were injured."

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Kenneth Stephens was the target of the raid after investigators gathered evidence that he was dealing heroin, according to an unsealed criminal complaint filed in federal court. Stephens, whose record includes firearms, drug and burglary convictions, was believed to have had at least one gun in the home, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent wrote in the complaint.

Investigators and federal authorities would not say late Tuesday whether Stephens was the person killed.

The shooting represented the first fatal police-involved shooting in Vermont in 2015 and drew dozens of local, state and federal law-enforcement agents to the home just north of downtown Burlington.

The DEA was leading the execution of the search warrant, but Vermont and local authorities also were involved, Hall said. Investigators said they were working to confirm the identity of the man killed and to notify his relatives.

Hall did not say whether the man was armed or whether he fired at officers.

State troopers were asked to investigate the officer-involved shooting, Hall said.

The federal court records unsealed late Tuesday show that investigators believe Stephens had a muzzleloader rifle in the home. The complaint, written by DEA Task Force Officer Robert Estes, noted that Stephens had multiple convictions for drugs and burglary, and that he had spent 15 years in prison starting in the 1990s for illegally possessing a firearm.

In 2010, he was found to have violated his supervised release and was ordered returned to prison for a year, the complaint states.

The shooting investigation remained in early stages late Tuesday night. Burlington police said the public was facing no danger.

Officers on the scene included uniformed Burlington police and other agents, some of whom wore vests, handguns strapped to their legs and black ski-type masks over their heads and faces.

A white clapboard two-story house on the west side of Elmwood Avenue north of Peru Street was cordoned off by police tape. The road was closed, and traffic and pedestrians were being diverted. One sidewalk across the street was reopened by 9 p.m.

Multiple evidence markers sat in the vestibule of the house. An object that looked like a battering ram lay in the doorway. The siding around the front door showed visible damage: cracks and holes.

Law-enforcement officers huddled in front of the home, and also in the parking lot out back. The Elmwood Meunier Funeral Home is next door, and investigators could be seen between the two buildings.

Neighbor Clayton Gilligan, 31, said a bullet fired during the raid next door pierced the wall of his home and barely missed his roommate, who was sitting on a couch downstairs. An officer wearing a face mask and carrying an assault-style rifle came into the house afterward to interview the occupants.

While they were talking, Gilligan said, they began looking for the bullet.

"There were some wood splinters coming through the house, and I moved the couch cushions, and I was like, 'Oh there it is,'" he said.

The officer then said not to touch anything, and the authorities took charge of that area of the apartment, Gilligan said.

Three hours later, Gilligan gathered some belongings and left, headed to his girlfriend's house for the night. His roommates had departed earlier to clear their heads. The police remained inside more than three hours later.

"Everybody's absolutely fine and in pretty good spirits," Gilligan said.

Burlington police first confirmed that the shooting involved law officers in a tweet at 9:45 p.m. City police were assisting the Vermont State Police and federal agents in the ongoing investigation.

The initial incident was reported at about 7 p.m. Witnesses told the Burlington Free Press they heard a loud noise that they thought at first sounded like a car accident.

"We heard sirens and cops flying by our house," said Heather Machia, 26, who lives with her family on North Winooski Avenue nearby. "We found them here."

The police activity and violence in her neighborhood left her feeling shaken.

"What if we were walking by?" Machia said, referring to her family, including a daughter who turns 2 next week. "Scary. I have a daughter. If anything happened to her ..."

Lt. Paul Glynn of the Burlington Police Department said shortly after the incident was reported that he was limited in what he could disclose, because the DEA was taking the lead. There was no ongoing threat to the public.

"The investigation is in its infancy," Glynn said at about 8 p.m. "We are currently assisting our federal partners with this investigation, giving whatever aid and support we can."

U.S. Attorney for Vermont Eric Miller said he was being briefed about the case Tuesday night.

He was unable to say whether more than one person was in the home at the time of the raid or which agencies had officers who fired weapons.

Miller said it was a joint agreement between him, federal, state and local law enforcement, and Chittenden County State's Attorney T.J. Donovan's office that the Vermont State Police handle the shooting aspect of the case.

"Everybody immediately agreed that the Vermont State Police should take the lead on the investigation of the shooting," Miller said. "This is what they do very well."

CORRECTION: This story has been updated. Heather Machia is 26 years old. Her age was incorrect in an earlier version of this story. 

Contact Adam Silverman at 802-660-1854 or asilverman@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wej12.