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.
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Anyone who doesn’t think that the Occupy Burlington movement isn’t a bunch of conspiratorial babies should read the entire Free Press story today that covered their meeting yesterday. Now they want to exclude the media from covering their meetings, or have the right to edit any TV footage before it is broadcast!
RE: Shlossberg:…3) I explained what the “political” opportunism meant. Not “liberal” politics, him using this as an excuse to not have to deal with the controversy of the Occupation anymore.The only “opportunism” for the Chief is putting Kiss back in his little box of irrelevency where HE can’t harm the public anymore until the next election sends him packing. Why do you think Kiss “injected” himself in the middle of a lawful arrest? I would conjecture all of the ordinarily prudent public officials (if there are any left in Sodom) have been dismayed with Kiss’s “Wait and See” attitude and making exceptions for fleabaggers and the other societal parasites, as opposed to enforcing the law that everbody else lives under.Perhaps Kiss is concerned Shumlin and Rear Admiral Beth’s “Look the Other Way” edict on public safety and law enforcement will score more points with the dirty hippy crowd come election time and he is attempting to outdo that “Stupid is as Stupid does” moment?Thank You Chief Shirling for finally seizing the moment and opportunity to restore a semblance of common sense and rule of law in Burlington.
Josh, I support OWS, but let’s be real. Even if the mayor is listening to certain “loud people,” as you put it, these people have a viewpoint, an opinion that’s no less valid than yours or mine. In fact, it is the mayor’s job to listen to these people, as well as to listen to the occupiers. That’s what democracy is, and I thought that’s what this movement was about, at least partially. Try a little perspective. Look at the footage of other cities and their reactions to OWS, then tell me that the city of Burlington is behaving badly. Your dismissiveness of the loss of a life is also quite staggering. What, somebody killed himself in a public place in the middle of the afternoon? Bah, happens all the time it shouldn’t affect *us*. Again, try a little perspective.
So you call unknown, unsupported references to calling for the camp to be torn down, “loud people”?Again, which people?How many of them?And, above all, how are they “loud”? Can you cite me a decibel level?Josh, you’re making shit up. C’mon, man. Lay off the booze and the pot, and the conspiracies will go away. They really will.
“Kiss getting “blowback from loud people””?This is in reference to a conversation with police chief I took part in where he said the city was getting complaints to tear down the camp. These “loud” people never supported Occupy to begin with.”But if you’re going to trash a public park, fight with police who are investigating a crime scene, and engage in conspiracy theories against the Kiss Administration (of all people, for chrissake) you’re losing your support.”I’m not aware that any of the above happened. 1) Park wasn’t trashed that I saw 2) No “Fight” happened with police just some yelling 3) I explained what the “political” opportunism meant. Not “liberal” politics, him using this as an excuse to not have to deal with the controversy of the Occupation anymore.
"Kiss getting "blowback from loud people""?
This is in reference to a conversation with police chief I took part in where he said the city was getting complaints to tear down the camp. These "loud" people never supported Occupy to begin with.
"But if you're going to trash a public park, fight with police who are investigating a crime scene, and engage in conspiracy theories against the Kiss Administration (of all people, for chrissake) you're losing your support."
I'm not aware that any of the above happened. 1) Park wasn't trashed that I saw 2) No "Fight" happened with police just some yelling 3) I explained what the "political" opportunism meant. Not "liberal" politics, him using this as an excuse to not have to deal with the controversy of the Occupation anymore.
“And let’s not go there about the conservatives vs. radicals. We all know how many “leftist” protestors have been kicked out of political meetings for wearing t-shirts or using their words, while tea party folks show up with assault rifles.”Sorry, NOT in Vermont. The only ones who get shouted down or kicked out or “uninvited” in Vermont are the conservatives. Ask Ben Stein. That was a shameful episode.”Kiss getting “blowback from loud people””? Have you lost all sense of reality? Name one person who has protested that you should be out of city hall park? Identify a single protest that’s taken place against you. Identify the march that’s taken place against you. Who are the “loud” people and what do you mean by loud? You’re allowing yourself to engage in conspiracy theories about people who are “against” you. This is the hallmark of movements on the Left or the Right.”Unfortunately, people who support something are much less likely to voice their opinion than people who oppose.” Again, what the hell are you talking about? You Occupiers are the loudest thing in Burlington.Which is why you’re losing the sympathy of people like me (I’m a 99%er) who agree with many of your views. But if you’re going to trash a public park, fight with police who are investigating a crime scene, and engage in conspiracy theories against the Kiss Administration (of all people, for chrissake) you’re losing your support.
@Murphy:I live in Montpelier and am a part of Occupy Central Vermont. It is not my job to judge the occupation of city hall park, its strategy, effectiveness, etc, however I do think that the protestors should be the ones making the decision to clear out or not, not the city.And let’s not go there about the conservatives vs. radicals. We all know how many “leftist” protestors have been kicked out of political meetings for wearing t-shirts or using their words, while tea party folks show up with assault rifles. This isn’t about right vs. left anyway, which is a made up concept to keep us apart. It’s about freedom and liberty and this tragedy is just a poor excuse to clear out the Occupation. When I say “political,” I mean because Kiss has been getting some blowback from loud people who have opposed the Occupy movement from the start, and seems he is doing this to avoid controversy from those loud people, who probably have a lot more money and influence in the community than us protestors.Unfortunately, people who support something are much less likely to voice their opinion than people who oppose. It’s just human nature. I feel the City of Burlington is manipulating this incident and pretending its about “public safety” as a smokescreen to just end this “controversial” protest.
@Murphy:
I live in Montpelier and am a part of Occupy Central Vermont. It is not my job to judge the occupation of city hall park, its strategy, effectiveness, etc, however I do think that the protestors should be the ones making the decision to clear out or not, not the city.
And let's not go there about the conservatives vs. radicals. We all know how many "leftist" protestors have been kicked out of political meetings for wearing t-shirts or using their words, while tea party folks show up with assault rifles.
This isn't about right vs. left anyway, which is a made up concept to keep us apart. It's about freedom and liberty and this tragedy is just a poor excuse to clear out the Occupation. When I say "political," I mean because Kiss has been getting some blowback from loud people who have opposed the Occupy movement from the start, and seems he is doing this to avoid controversy from those loud people, who probably have a lot more money and influence in the community than us protestors.
Unfortunately, people who support something are much less likely to voice their opinion than people who oppose. It's just human nature. I feel the City of Burlington is manipulating this incident and pretending its about "public safety" as a smokescreen to just end this "controversial" protest.
First off, the idea that Socialist Mayor Kiss wants to shut you down for “political reasons” is simply absurd. Are you from Burlington? Do you know anything about Kiss?Second, the fact that he (wrongfully, in my view) allowed you to break the city rules by camping overnight in the first place shows that your conclusion is wrong. If he was going to shut you down for “political reasons” he could have simply enforced the rule against overnight camping on the very first night. Or the second. Or the third. Or . . .Many people don’t think he ever should have let you camp in the first place, because he certainly would not have let a conservative group break the rules. He played politics in your favor.Lastly, your group has taken over and trashed a public space — a space that doesn’t belong exclusively to you. And there has been public consumption of alcohol, foul language, noise at all hours, and public defacation. And now gunplay and a death?!! And you’re complaining that the City now wants you out?!! Seriously?!! Are you kidding?!! Do you have no sense of perspective whatsoever? Your politics are not the issue.Moreover, you’ve been there 2 weeks and you are now beginning to turn off and even frighten people who have been sympathetic to your views. How long are you planning to occupy our park? Until America simply gives up and does what you want? It’s getting pathetic. You should not have been allowed to take over the park in the first place, but now it’s certainly time to go.Do something else for your causes.