Latest update to Storify: 11/12, 8:40 p.m.

Update, 11/11, 2:26 p.m.: In a briefing this morning, police identified the deceased as Joshua Pfenning, 35, a transient in the Burlington area. Police say Pfenning had consumed a “large quantity of alcohol,” and that he pointed the gun at and threatened another person in the tent before the shooting. Police have contacted one witness who was in the tent at the time the shooting occurred and are looking for another, although they did not release the missing witness’s name. The handgun used in the incident was apparently stolen from a home in Derby in 2009.

Responding to rumors that the victim was a military veteran, Deputy Chief Andi Higbee said that Pfenning was in the Army at one point, but was discharged after two weeks in boot camp.

Police Chief Michael Schirling says the city is now trying to balance public safety and its own investigation with the rights of Occupy Burlington protesters to assemble. The southern half of City Hall Park, where the Occupy camp is, will remain cordoned off indefinitely while the investigation continues The northern half remains open for all and Occupiers are welcome to continue demonstrations there during the hours the park is open. Police will no longer permit tents in the park, though.

According to court records, Pfenning has a criminal record dating back to 1999. He received a suspended jail sentence and probation following a drunk driving arrest in Orleans County in 2006. In September 2009, he pleaded guilty to DUI and operating with a suspended license in Chittenden County, and paid a fine. He pleaded guilty to DUI #2 and operating with a suspended license in Caledonia County in October 2010. He received a suspended jail sentence and was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service, and attend  alcohol screening, counseling and treatment. He was on probation through October 23, 2012.

Court records also indicate he was born in Middlebury, and that his birthday was Nov. 6 — four days before his apparent suicide.  

Andy Bromage contributed to this report. Click here to download the full text of Police Chief Michael Schirling’s statement on the investigation and the future of Occupy Burlington.

Original post: Yesterday evening, police cleared City Hall Park to investigate the shooting death of a man who allegedly shot himself at the Occupy Burlington encampment. Occupiers, Burlington police and Mayor Bob Kiss met in the park and later inside City Hall to discuss how to proceed. The situation became tense after police detained a protester and displayed tear gas guns and other larger weapons. Kiss successfully negotiated the release of the protester, and a pastor from the Unitarian Universalist church invited Occupiers to spend the night there instead.

All night long, police kept the southern half of City Hall Park cordoned off. The northern half of the park remained open, and some Occupiers remained there to keep an eye on the camp. They also held a candlelight vigil after midnight in memory of “Josh” at the northern edge of the City Hall Park fountain.

The southern half of the park, including the Occupy camp, remains cordoned off this morning. Four police cars are stationed at the corners of the scene. This morning the park was largely devoid of Occupiers, but area homeless and other local residents were there, keeping watch.

What follows is a Storify post chronicling the day’s events through Tweets, photos and video from local media outlets and community members. The post will be updated as more news comes in. I’m headed off to a Burlington Police briefing at 11:30 a.m., from which I’ll post updates on our Twitter account.

(If you’re having trouble seeing the embedded version of the Storify post below, click here to view it on Storify.com.)

 

View the story “Shooting at Occupy Burlington Camp” on Storify]

This article appears in Nov 9-15, 2011.

Tyler Machado was the digital media manager at Seven Days. He mostly worked behind the scenes making sure the website, email newsletters and social media feeds stayed in tip-top shape.

34 replies on “Apparent Suicide at Occupy Burlington Camp – Updated, 11/12 at 8:40 p.m.”

  1. I’m sorry, but this is a shameful manipulation of an unpreventable tragedy to shut down something for political reasons. Exactly how are people all of a sudden “unsafe” because someone killed himself? People kill themselves all the time–30,000 people a year, one suicide every 15 minutes. Does that mean we should prevent all camping everywhere? Can’t people shoot themselves or do drugs or drink from parked cars? Does that mean we should evacuate all parking lots?And who knows what’s going on behind closed doors, say, buildings overlooking the park. People could be shooting themselves there all the time. Should we condemn all the buildings around the park for “public safety?”Occupy folks seem to be ok with respecting a crime scene during its investigation–no reason not to respect that–but for the city to demand the encampment disband simply because of an unfortunate incident is opportunistic and shows a lack of respect for free speech.No integrity.

  2. I'm sorry, but this is a shameful manipulation of an unpreventable tragedy to shut down something for political reasons.
    Exactly how are people all of a sudden "unsafe" because someone killed himself? People kill themselves all the time–30,000 people a year, one suicide every 15 minutes. Does that mean we should prevent all camping everywhere? Can't people shoot themselves or do drugs or drink from parked cars? Does that mean we should evacuate all parking lots?
    And who knows what's going on behind closed doors, say, buildings overlooking the park. People could be shooting themselves there all the time. Should we condemn all the buildings around the park for "public safety?"
    Occupy folks seem to be ok with respecting a crime scene during its investigation–no reason not to respect that–but for the city to demand the encampment disband simply because of an unfortunate incident is opportunistic and shows a lack of respect for free speech.
    No integrity.

  3. Today’s BFP: “Police said Pfenning had been drinking heavily in the days before his death and had pointed his weapon at others. They also said he had spent only two weeks in the military before being discharged from boot camp, but the group described him as a veteran, and one man at the vigil held an American flag, at half-staff.O’Donnell said Pfenning was not a military veteran but had served two weeks in Army basic training before receiving a medical discharge due to asthma.”Occupiers: to hell with facts! He was a veteran!BTW: @ Simha Bode: COTS has denied that they were referring homeless people to your illegal encampment. COTS has a well-deserved reputation in Burlington for honesty and integrity. Are you calling them a liar? Are you from Burlington?

  5. Homelessness is STILL an issue that needs to be addressed by the city, especially with below freezing weather on the way. The Burlington homeless shelters (that are at full capacity) were referring homeless to the occupation, where to they do they house them now? What is the city of Burlington doing for the homeless for whom this camp was a shelter?

  6. Why are the occupiers above the law? The park closes at 11:00PM. Numerous homeless have been cited, fined and even arrested in the past for violating this ordinance.The situation is clearly compromising public safety They need to find another spot. This is not the only firearm incident at the park this week, although the other one was not reported to police. I personally know someone who witnessed a firarm being brandished a few days ago. This sh*tshow is out of hand. If it was a conservative movement, you can believe that Kiss and city council would not allow it.Your rights end when your actions encroach upon my rights. Period. Shut it down now.

  7. Umm . . . so I guess the suicide victim was not the Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran that he was initially portrayed to be? I guess the indignant outrage that some of the Occupiers expressed about the way we treat our military veterans turned out to be a little off-base in this case, eh?The guy got kicked out of boot camp at 2 weeks, gets drunk, threatens someone with a stolen gun, and then shoots himself. Sad, but hardly “society’s” fault.Suicides are tragedies, but it’s disgraceful to exploit one of them as justification for your anger at “society.”

  8. Josh — Chief Schirling said that the camp is being treated as a crime scene until they can 100% rule out criminal activity, and as with any crime scene, it needs to remain clear for the police to complete the investigation.As for the tents, let me copy and paste directly from Schirling’s statement (I’ll also update the post with a link to the full statement):”As you know, the City took a wait and see approach to the occupation of City Hall Park. Yesterday at 2:07 p.m. the safety landscape was altered substantially. Prior to yesterday afternoon there was no way to reasonably foresee that this level of risk would occur in the encampment. Now there is. As a result of this investigation we know that at least one weapon has been present in the encampment and we are now clear that there has been extensive consumption of alcohol and some use of drugs by some of those present in the camp. The presence of structure/tents creates an enhanced risk by virtue of the activity that can and is occurring inside them. This risk simply cannot be managed by the encampment facilitators or police under the current circumstances. These challenges, as underscored by events in other parts of the country, are not unique to Burlington.”Schirling stressed that the city is not trying to shut down the Occupy movement, and that they’re welcome to demonstrate in the parts of the park that remain open (sans tents, which makes it not much of an occupation, granted).

  9. That’s pretty opportunistic of the City to stop the Occupation. Exactly how does someone’s suicide that already happened endanger the safety of others?Isn’t it a tragedy enough that this happened? Does the City need to manipulate it for political gain.Rest assured that if the Occupation is ousted, there will be outrage.

  10. That's pretty opportunistic of the City to stop the Occupation. Exactly how does someone's suicide that already happened endanger the safety of others?
    Isn't it a tragedy enough that this happened? Does the City need to manipulate it for political gain.
    Rest assured that if the Occupation is ousted, there will be outrage.

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