Sandy MaloneSaratoga Springs, NY – A Vermont sheriff’s deputy was shot multiple times early on Sunday morning after he got into a gunfight with another patron outside a bar in New York (video below).
Police said the incident occurred at about 3 a.m. on Oct. 20 outside a bar on Caroline Street in the Saratoga Springs nightlife district, VTDigger reported.
Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Safety James Montagnino said the shooting began after a barroom argument spilled out into the street, The Times Union reported.
Commissioner Montagnino said one of the men in the other group slammed the off-duty deputy onto a car hood and the fight escalated from there.
Saratoga Springs Police Sergeant Paul Veitch said officers were on patrol in the area when they heard gunfire erupt a block away from them.
“As the officers came around the corner, they observed two separate groups, both kind of faced off [with] each other with handguns,” Sgt. Veitch explained.
The sergeant said the two groups had “already been shooting at each other” when police rolled up on the scene, VTDigger reported.
He said he didn’t know how many people were the other group that the Rutland County, Vermont sheriff’s deputy was shooting at.
Sgt. Veitch said responding officers ordered everyone to drop their weapons and get on the ground, VTDigger reported.
The suspect, later identified as the off-duty Vermont sheriff’s deputy, ignored police commands.
Bodycam video showed the suspect, whose name has not yet been publicly released, fled police on foot down the sidewalk with his gun still in his hand.
A woman whom police believe was with the suspect at the bar put herself between police and the off-duty deputy as officers shouted at the armed suspect repeatedly to “drop the gun,” the video showed.
The video showed that when the suspect raised his hand with the gun in it in the direction of police and civilians on the sidewalk, Saratoga Springs officers opened fire on him, VTDigger reported.
Sgt. Veitch wouldn’t say how many of the nine officers on the scene fired their weapons but said the preliminary investigation indicated police had fired a total of 11 rounds at the armed suspect.
The sergeant said the wounded sheriff’s deputy identified himself as a law enforcement officer to the police after they shot him and officers immediately began to render First Aid, VTDigger reported.
He sustained 10 gunshot wounds, including one to the chest, according to NBC News.
The police commissioner said the wounds hadn’t yet been classified as exit or entry wounds.
“So, it doesn’t mean that he was shot 10 times, it simply means that there were 10 wounds. It’s certainly possible that he was shot half that number or even less,” Commissioner Montagnino said. “If a bullet penetrated an arm and lodged in the chest, that could be three wounds from one round.”
Officers also provided aid to another individual suffering from a gunshot wound on the street, NBC News reported.
The victim was shot by the off-duty Vermont sheriff’s deputy, according to authorities.
The suspect’s girlfriend was also nicked by a bullet when the officers opened fire on her boyfriend, NBC News reported.
Two of the three people remained hospitalized in stable condition and the third was treated and released.
Commissioner Montagnino said it was the first time in 30 years that Saratoga Springs police officers have fired their weapons in the line of duty.
He said the officers involved in the incident would be placed on paid administrative leave while an investigation is conducted, as is protocol for all officer-involved shootings, NBC News reported.
No arrests have been made or charges filed yet in connection with the shootings.
Watch the incident unfold in the video below. WARNING – Graphic Content:
#SaratogaSprings #NY
*potentially disturbing*
“Saratoga Springs police shot an off-duty sheriff's deputy from Vermont early Sunday after the deputy was involved in a shootout after an argument in a bar on Caroline Street, according to [the] Commissioner of Public Safety.”/1 BWC pic.twitter.com/v9W9EqKDFZ
— Shane B. Murphy (@shanermurph) November 20, 2022
Holly Matkin
