Updated at 6:48 p.m.
An innocent bystander was seriously injured early Monday after a man fired two gunshots into a crowd on Main Street in Burlington shortly after bars closed for the night, according to police.
Officers on patrol just after 2 a.m. heard the shots and caught 37-year-old Rashad Nashid not far from the shooting scene outside of Nectar’s, police said in a statement. Nashid, a convicted felon, was allegedly intoxicated and armed with a .38-caliber Ruger pistol when a Burlington police sergeant arrested him on South Winooski Street.
“The chief of police would like to commend the sergeant for his bravery and restraint in confronting an armed, intoxicated suspect in the direct aftermath of a shooting, and the other responding officers for safely bringing order to a dangerous and chaotic crime scene,” the department said in a statement.
Nashid was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He appeared in federal court later Monday and was ordered held until his trial. Nashid faces up to 10 years in prison.
The 26-year-old victim was shot in the lung and is in serious condition, but she is expected to survive, according to police.
“She does not have any known ties to the suspect,” police said in a statement.
Nashid told police he’d been drinking at Nectar’s before the shooting. An “unknown male” that Nashid knew from an altercation a year earlier approached him outside of the bar, according to federal authorities.
“The defendant pulled out a gun and shot at the male in order to make the male ‘back down,'” the feds said in a statement. “The bullet instead struck an innocent bystander who happened to be standing on the sidewalk near the defendant.”
Nashid has several previous felony convictions in New Jersey, federal authorities said.
Nashid is also facing felony drug charges in Burlington and had been out of prison on conditions ahead of his trial. Cops investigating a woman’s overdose death arrested Nashid and three others in September at a Pearl Street apartment where police allegedly found 50 grams of crack cocaine, 25 grams of powdered cocaine, five grams of heroin, $5,000 cash and a loaded .357 revolver.
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Lets see….this useless protoplasm has two prior felony convictions and is somehow still on the streets, gets caught AGAIN with a loaded firearm and is RELEASED again(!) on bail….what could possibly go wrong? Hopefully CNN and MSNBC will quickly empanel some of their moron experts and place the blame for this shooting where it belongs: on the NRA!
The real tragedy is that Vt State Trooper Fast Draw Brown was not on duty on Church St when we really needed him!
The story says the shooter is facing up to 10 years in prison. That would be such cruel and unusual punishment.
Must be because he was drunk and wasn’t aiming at her.
Because a crime is committed by this guy, who in not white… it become a referendum on people of color? Holy crap, Im shocked at the amount of racist comments I read. How about the white guy who nearly bludgeoned his wife to death, or the sick o, white woman who shot the social worker, or the creepy white couple that killed that young teacher… and a bizzilion more…we are dealing with a drug epidemic, which draws all kinds of low lifes to our area. You want this kind of random violence to stop, then address the opiate and drug crisis, address our mental health funding… but for god sakes, get out of the white extremist gutter, calling for public hangings??? Good god, what the hell is the matter with you?
I love Politians and people spouting off that don’t know how the criminal court works or the current state statute s or U.S. Code.
So what laws would have prevented this..
These are just his Conditions of Release(COR) which he violated:
-Not to enter any establishment with a liquor license
-Not to possess or have a firearm(s)
-Not to be under the influence of or possess alcohol
-Not to be under the influence of or possess a controlled substance
-Not to associate with other felons
-Participate in rehab.- I take it Nectars has qualified therapists.
City Ordinances, State and federal laws(to name a few) that he violated:
-Felon in possession of a firearm. F/S
-Reckless endangerment
-Public intoxication
-Assault with a deadly weapon
-Possession of a controlled substance
-Possession of narcotics
-Illegal firearm transfer, AKA “Straw purchase”
-Discharging a firearm in BTV city limits
And those are just the beginning.
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Well Marianne, there is one running for political office who didn’t originally come here to be mayor . Infinite came here to destroy lives by dealing crack. And yes according to your type just bringing up this sordid fact is racist . Shame on those who practice this moral relativism . Rashad is Infinite a few decades later. Maybe he can run for mayor in 2050 . I’m sure you will vote for him.
Marianne1: I was born in Rutland state hospital and am at least fourth generation Vermonter. But thanks for the archetypal nativist tone I expect from bitter Vermonters that love to demand their state back from those god awful flat landers and terrible out of state UVM students.
Also, the violent crime rate in 2014 was 0.102%, whilst in 1974 it was 0.075%. If it was really so safe back then, then how come violent crime has only increased by a factor of 1.36? Perhaps all the older adults here are idealizing their past and imagining it as a safer, easier time.
*For reference, the most violent state is Alaska with a violent crime rate of 0.8%
As Snow Creek says, we did pull a comment that made sweeping generalizations about race; that’s not permitted in our comments section.
We ask that commenters adhere to our commenting guidelines: be respectful, be constructive and stay on topic among them. You can read all of those guidelines right here: http://7dvt.co/comment-guidelines
Thanks, everyone, for helping to keep the conversation civil and productive.
“Just wanted to let you know we’ve pulled your comments from the story about the shooting outside of Nectar’s. You’re essentially equating all nonwhite people with a person who shot someone outside of a nightclub here. As we discussed the other day, that kind of comment falls way outside of our commenting guidelines.”
this was the comment I got to let me know that they were pulling my comment.
All for saying that black people moving here are the main cause for the increase in violence in burlington. Something that left wing sources confirm with their own outrage over the higher arrest rates of black men in Burlington. Apparently reality is now a target to be silenced.
were the police unable to confiscate his gun under Vermont law when he was arrested for the September incident?
It sounds to me that there may have been another person involved with this incident. Maybe wait til the investigation is complete to jump to conclusions.
It seems like one person was involved in drunken recklessness with guns, but there may be another person who contributed to this incident. If the shooter is to be believed – they may have used a gun as well. From the description it seems like the suspect pretty much confessed on the spot.