Vermont Attorney General will not prosecute state trooper who fatally shot unarmed Putney man – VTDigger

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark declined Tuesday to prosecute a state police officer who shot and killed an unarmed man who was experiencing a mental health crisis last year. 

Vermont State Police Trooper Peter Romeo fatally shot 55-year-old Scott Garvey in his Putney home on July 7, 2025. Romeo opened fire on Garvey after police entered the man’s house, in which he had barricaded himself for more than four hours, according to a Tuesday press release from the Vermont Attorney General’s office. 

Clark, the state’s top law enforcement officer, determined that police officers involved in the shooting did not violate state law by fatally shooting Garvey, the press release said. 

Forty nine people have been shot by police officers in Vermont since 1977, when the state began keeping track. None of those officers has been criminally prosecuted for their use of force, according to Vermont State Police data. 

The Vermont State Police — whose officers were involved in the shooting — investigated the incident. Clark’s office reviewed the materials in the investigation before declining to press charges, according to the press release. 

Shawn Garvey, Scott’s brother, said in an interview Wednesday that he believed his brother’s death was preventable and that police officers involved in the shooting made the wrong judgment calls.

“Is the state going to hold anyone accountable at all? Or is this just a free ride, a free pass?” Shawn Garvey said. 

Across the U.S., a quarter of police shootings between 2015 and 2020 involved someone with a mental illness, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. 

The press release from Clark’s office sheds light on the timeline of events leading up to the fatal shooting. 

The night of July 6, 2025, the day before Garvey was killed, neighbors called the police to report seeing smoke coming from his apartment, the release said. Neighbors told police they believed he was trying to kill himself, according to the release. 

When firefighters and emergency medical personnel responded, they reported that the smoke had come from a fire extinguisher. Garvey was alone in the apartment and not a threat, they said.  

The next morning, at about 7:15 a.m., Garvey called police and reported he had been in an altercation with a neighbor the day before and he believed the neighbor had a firearm. 

“Mr. Garvey voiced concern that people were in the woods with guns, and that someone had tried to break into his house with a gun a few nights before, but he had stacked boxes in front of the door and fought them off,” the press release said, detailing Garvey’s phone call. 

Later that morning, a neighbor of Garvey’s called police to report that a man was banging on the windows and “stating that the voices are telling him to kill everyone.” 

The press release said police officers and a mental health clinician arrived at Garvey’s house at about 11:30 a.m. that morning. After talking to neighbors who witnessed Garvey’s behavior and said they were scared, police spoke with Garvey through his front door. Officers determined they had probable cause to arrest Garvey, but he wouldn’t let them in.

“The embedded mental health clinician relayed that Mr. Garvey ‘said he had a gun’ and ‘if he came out, you would have your guns drawn, and he would have his as well,’” the press release said.

Police officers and the mental health clinician spent about four and a half hours communicating with Garvey, trying to de-escalate the situation, the press release said, adding that officers were aware that Garvey had a history of schizophrenia. 

“Throughout, Mr. Garvey never denied that he was in possession of a firearm while in the apartment,” the press release said. 

Officers were eventually granted a warrant to enter the house and entered it at about 4:30 p.m. But when three troopers tried to enter the house, they encountered a barricade. Trooper Romeo saw Garvey holding an object that he wasn’t able to identify but suspected was a rifle, the press release said. 

“When asked what he had seen by Sergeant Hughes, Trooper Romeo responded ‘I don’t know,’” the release said. 

Then police ordered Garvey multiple times to drop the object, but he did not, according to the press release. It said Garvey then raised the object like it was a rifle and pointed it at officers. Romeo fired seven shots, three of which hit Garvey, the release said. 

The object was not a rifle — it was a metal pole, the press release said. Garvey used the pole as a cane, his brother Shawn said. 

In the interview, Shawn said that he thinks police officers escalated the situation by entering the house. 

“My brother wasn’t hanging out the window with a weapon, he wasn’t threatening neighbors through their walls, he didn’t, you know, say he had a bomb,” he said. 

Shawn said he wasn’t surprised that the case wasn’t getting prosecuted, but it was difficult news to receive. 

After his brother’s death, Shawn said, he returned to his brother’s house to find a gruesome crime scene. He said the walls were filled with bullet holes and a pool of blood remained on the floor. Cleaning up the house, which his mother also lived in, cost about $20,000, he added. 

Then his family had to pay the state nearly $2,000 for his brother’s remains, he said. 

“We’ve been living in a sort of purgatory for 351 days,” awaiting the results of the investigation, Shawn said. 

In response to Shawn’s comments about officer conduct, Clark said in an emailed statement to VTDigger that “This event was a tragedy. We cannot imagine the pain that the Garvey family has endured and continues to experience, and our hearts go out to them during this time.” 

Before the attorney general made the public announcement, Shawn said, he and his family members spent about four hours talking with police about the events leading up to his brother’s death. 

“I came out more convinced than ever that my brother should still be alive today,” Shawn said.