In late February, an argument outside a downtown bar in Burlington, Vermont led to a shooting that seriously injured a bystander. The Chittenden County State’s Attorney recently opted not to file charges against one of the men, prompting criticism from the city’s police chief and mayor.
It started with an argument, threats and flashing guns inside Nectar’s Lounge between Carl Martin and another man, Rashad Nashid. According to the state’s attorney’s office, Nashid initially threatened to kill Carl Martin’s brother. Several hours later there was a confrontation between the trio outside the bar and shots were fired by both Nashid and Carl Martin. Police report that one of the shots fired by Nashid hit a bystander, 27-year-old Chelsi Parker, who was seriously injured but survived.
The Chittenden County State’s Attorney recently decided not to file charges against Carl Martin. In an email to WAMC, Sarah George said she is “…not making any additional comments on the decision outside of the decline letter. There are charges coming against the other party (the shooter) and I do not want to make any comments that could potentially impact that case in any way.” The decline letter states: “Mr. Martin’s actions were irresponsible, dangerous and injudicious. However, given the totality of the circumstances, his actions were not criminal…The threat by Carl Martin to use a deadly weapon on Rashad Nashid was just and necessary to defend his life or the life of his brother.”
Burlington Police Chief Brandon del Pozo says the department respectfully disagrees about the most appropriate way to proceed. “What we would have liked to have seen is Carl Martin’s assertion of self-defense, which was based in the greatest part on his verbal utterances three days later after being arrested, having fled the scene, tested in a court of law by Vermonters offered as a defense and not simply taken at face value. He was one of two men and a brother who engaged in an escalatory confrontation that resulted in an innocent bystander nearly being shot to death.”
Del Pozo adds: “If you read the written decision that the state’s attorney put out it said that the actions taken by Carl Martin were irresponsible and ill advised and there were some other adjectives as well but they were not unlawful. So what this says to the public is that if you are in a long standing dispute with someone and they point a gun at you earlier in the night, continue to stay out, continue to exchange verbal barbs with them at the end of the night arm yourself and if that person comes near your brother you can run across the street, punch him in the face and point a gun at him. That’s a dangerous lawless city and we need there to be an accounting of why that happens.”
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger supports the police chief’s position. “From our perspective were it not for the actions of Carl Martin this woman Chelsi very likely would not have been shot. He wasn’t the one that pulled the trigger himself but I think he had some options that would have prevented this from happening and the Chief and I want to make it clear that even if this person isn’t charged in no way do we condone what is alleged to have occurred.”
Despite this public disagreement, Chief Del Pozo says there is a strong relationship with the state’s attorney’s office. “We’re in lockstep on so many things. We do have differences of opinion and sometimes they never come to light. This one came to light because I felt like the Police Department owed a duty to its citizens to reassure them that we took this extremely seriously and had a certain feeling about someone being held to account for contributing to gun violence.”
Rashad Nashid is due to appear in Chittenden Superior Court September 20th.
