Reaction after Burlington shooting

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Another shooting in downtown Burlington leaves one person dead.

“It was ironic because I was actually out and about on Thursday, canvassing, on Thursday night, and I was talking to Alex. I’m like, yeah you know, glad to see that things have gone down and we haven’t seen this issue in a while. Next night later I wake up to a text message from a friend, saying. Hey look, we had another gun fire incident,” Christopher Haessly of the Church Street Marketplace District Commission.

Christopher Haessly has lived in downtown Burlington for many years, in fact, he lives right off of Church St.

He’s on the Church Street Marketplace District Commission, and in all of his years living in Burlington, he’s never seen violence in the city like this before, and is calling on local leaders to do something.

“I think moving forward we need to have a conversation about weather or not we want to continue to allow firearms into bars and other downtown establishments,” Haessly said.

According to police, the shooting happened at approximately 12:28 a.m. on Saturday, outside of Red Square on Church St.

Police say they arrested 22-year-old Aaliyah Johnson, of South Burlington, and recovered a .45 Caliber pistol.

Burlington police say a Community Service Officer (C.S.O.) heard gunshots and responded to the area. When he arrived, he found 30 year old Teville Williams of Stowe shot.

Officers attempted to provide medical care to Williams, but were disrupted by a large crowd that surrounded the officers.

They say the crowd had to be pushed back in order to preserve the crime scene, which included shell casings, bullets, and blood evidence.

According to Burlington police, the shooting stems from an altercation between Williams and Johnson, where Williams is alleged to have assaulted Johnson inside red square.

Bar employees made them both leave, out of two separate doors.

Johnson exited one door and moved towards the other to confront Williams on Church Street.

She then allegedly shot him several times.

“There are concerns with the business community. Nobody wants their business to be associated with gun violence. It is not a good look. It discourages people from coming downtown,” Haessly said.

WCAX reached out to Red Square for comment, but did not get a response.

But the bar said in a social media post it would be closed for the day to let staff members heal from the incident.

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