The Vermont attorney general’s office has determined that an officer involved non-fatal shooting on New Year’s Day in Ludlow was justified.
At about 6:30 on the morning of Jan. 1, Ludlow Police Department Chief Jeffrey Warfle responded to a noise disturbance at the Fox Run Inn in Ludlow. The chief initially spoke with Jaime Gomez, the suspected source of the noise and then went upstairs to talk to the person who made the complaint. Gomez followed and came up the stairs with his hands in his pockets. Police say he was asked to stop and remove his hands seven times. Gomez then tried to cut Chief Warfle with a knife he had been concealing. Warfle fired two rounds, hitting Gomez in the forearm and abdomen. The attorney general’s office determined that Warfle reasonably believed he was in imminent danger of being killed or harmed, and therefore the use of deadly force was justified.