In the photo above, the house on Verna Court where one man was killed and a woman injured in a shooting in the early morning hours of Thursday, Aug. 21. While Hartford police spent Thursday searching for a suspect, other officers and crime technicians descended on the scene. The house itself sits atop a steep driveway above the railroad crossing in Hartford Village. Dating to 1880, the L-shaped house is currently the only occupied structure on the short road, although a small barn at the end of the drive did house tenants in years past.
Members of the Vermont State Police Major Crimes unit took over the investigation on Thursday and carefully searched the entire ramshackle property, including the base of the driveway here, for any evidence the gunman might have left behind.
Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough joined investigators as they processed the scene of the double shooting on Thursday afternoon.
Hartford Police Officer Tyler Gibbons stands guard over the body which was lying in the driveway almost directly beneath a sign showing a hand pointing a gun that read: “Warning! There is nothing here worth dying for”. Once investigators were finished processing the scene, the victim’s body was due to be taken to Burlington for an autopsy.
The Vermont State Police Major Crimes Unit set up their evidence collection truck at the base of Verona Court Thursday afternoon and began a painstaking search of the property which included several small outbuildings and a large collection of cars and truck in addition to the house where the shooting took place early Thursday morning.
And later that evening: A heavily armed state police tactical team took up positions at a nearby trailer park just off Sykes Mountain Avenue mid-afternoon Thursday; troopers armed with sniper rifles and using their vehicle for cover were still in position keeping an eye on it as darkness fell.