A 23-year-old man was killed and another man was injured during a Tuesday afternoon shootout in Burlington’s Old North End.
The two men shot each other in the driveway of a North Willard Street home, police said in a press release. Benzel Hampton was shot in the head and died. The other man, whom Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo did not identify, was also shot but is expected to survive.
Del Pozo said the department’s preliminary investigation indicated the dispute involved drugs. Police found crack cocaine on Hampton’s body, he said.
Hampton was facing charges in Chittenden County after leading Vermont State Police troopers on a high-speed car chase in January.
According to a VSP release from the time, a trooper stopped Hampton on Interstate 89 in Middlesex for an unspecified motor vehicle violation. The trooper learned that Hampton had an outstanding arrest warrant in New York for an illegal weapons charge and asked him to exit his vehicle.
Instead, Hampton drove away, leading multiple agencies on a high-speed chase that stretched over I-89 and two state highways. Hampton struck two vehicles in the process, then a tree. The pursuit ended in Essex, where police officers arrested him as he fled on foot.
Hampton was charged with eight crimes, including resisting arrest, attempting to elude and being a fugitive from justice. His bail was listed as $15,000, according to the release. He was scheduled for a court hearing in May.
Burlington police taped off most of the 200 block of North Willard Street as they collected evidence and interviewed neighbors.
Police also closed a portion of Colchester Avenue adjacent to the University of Vermont, where they removed a vehicle from the road. Del Pozo said that the vehicle was transporting the unnamed shooter to the hospital.
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$15,000 bail seems low given likelihood he would flee.
Are landlords allowed to screen for criminal history? WCAX is reporting Mr. Hampton had arrest records in Florida, Georgia, and Vermont. Seven Days is reporting he had arrest warrant in New York state. Yet we are told over and over again by some politicians that those involved in the drug trade and those with a criminal history are “nonviolent” and thus justified the “Ban the Box” legislation passed by Vermont legislature and signed by Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin in 2016. Prohibits employers from asking about criminal history. Because that is somehow “discrimination”? Maybe there is a role in protecting the health, safety and welfare of the general public (and of co-workers?) to discriminate against someone with multiple felonies or multiple arrest records in multiple states? Were the landlords also prohibited from asking questions under the “Ban the Box” legislation supported by so many in the legislature and supported by Shumlin?
BTW, there were people walking nearby with preschool children to pick up other kids from school when this happened sometime after 2:30 today. In addition to families, there are college students who live all around this neighborhood.
And just 2 years ago, late March 2017, in broad daylight on Church Street, someone stabbed and killed someone around 2 pm in the afternoon. As families and shoppers went down Church Street, the very core of downtown Burlington. Less than 2 years before that, in December 2015, fatal shooting on Church Street. And Feb, 2018, a woman shot on Main Street outside a bar, after a man began randomly firing into a crowd.
What is going on at Burlington Police Department and City Hall? This is no joke. If a stray college student or family member walking their child on the sidewalk happened to have left their house just 5 minutes earlier, there easily could have been other people dead. It is getting dangerous to live in Burlington; to shop in Burlington; to attend school in Burlington.
And now Sarah George, Chittenden County State’s Attorney, wants to provide County-sponsored opium dens for anyone of all ages to engage in illegal drug use. Ms. George has stated Philly’s “Progressive” DA Larry Krasner is her role-model and Burlington needs to become more like Philadelphia. Does not seem her proposal will prevent these deadly shootouts b/c users cannot walk into pharmacy & get crack so the dealers taking over Burlington will still be here (and given how addictive & damaging opiates are, they arguably remain illegal & heavily regulated with good reason).
As drug dealers with connections from out-of-state seem to take over more and more of Burlington, it is not clear Sarah George’s proposal to decriminalize on County-level and to offer County-sponsored drug use sites would do anything to prevent the deadly shootouts that are occurring.
One can understand the impulse of Ms. George to want to try and save lives in any way possible to prevent an overdose. However, it seems for every theoretical life saved, there may be a few more theoretically lost if 100 or 200 more people decide to try heroin or crack cocaine because of the State’s Attorney’s endorsement of “safe” sites. Might a teenager think it cannot be that addictive or damaging if the State’s Attorney’s Office is giving official support? And these drugs remain illegal (or very heavily regulated in the case of some opiates) for arguably good reason. So users in Ms. George’s “safe” sites will still need to go to illegal drug dealer such as person involved in this deadly shootout.
Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner does not seem to be a great model. Yes, Philadelphia, like Burlington, is also a very liberal city but even among its progressive and liberal residents, crime victims and survivors and police officers in Philadelphia are not happy with the Krasner tenure.
Hats off to “CHRIS IN S. BURLINGTON” for several insightful observations regarding the coddling treatment of wayward, violence-prone drug addicts infiltrating the area.
The prevailing political culture in Vermont is to get “treatment” for these clowns vs. locking them up.
Treatment works – maybe – only when combined with a prison sentence.
Mayor Miro’s policy is to let the local drug thugs do as they want. God forbid he should praise the cops for their thankless work.
Miro’s political base is the jobless-by-choice welfare class sadly born of broken homes and poverty.
So, it’s no wonder that Vermont’s largest city is crime-riddled. Miro cynically re-enforces that woe-is-me mentality.
THAT is the real crime.
I wish that Seven Days would write an article about the shady history at this address, the landlord should be held accountable.
CHRIS, Mist landlords do check for criminal records. You do have to sign a release form so they check the public safety board in Middlesex
@Gigrape52, thanks for the heads-up. I truly did not know either way, which is why I asked the question. Yes, this was something I have dealt with before but it was prior to 2016 and the “Ban the Box” law. Have been hearing that particular house has been an issue for a while so perhaps it is just that some landlords choose to look the other way and are happy to take whatever rent money, however derived.
Why no picture of the dearly departed Benzel Hampton ? Let me guess .