VERMONT, RANKED AS ONE OF THE SAFEST STATES, SEES DRAMATIC SPIKE IN GUN VIOLENCE

Burlington, Vt. — The recent shootings of three college students of Palestinian descent in Vermont’s largest city come as the small rural state, often ranked as one of the nation’s safest, is grappling with a spike in gun violence.

Two days after the students were shot and seriously wounded during their Thanksgiving break, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger said it “was one of the most shocking and disturbing events in this city’s history.”

Statewide, Vermont has had 10 homicides and one suspicious death since October, including a double homicide in Burlington, Weinberger said. Burlington has seen 16 gunfire incidents so far this year, he said, adding that Vermont’s largest city is not alone.

“Many communities are experiencing an alarming rise in gun violence with recent shootings happening in Newport, Danville, St. Johnsbury, Brattleboro, Castleton, Leicester, Brookfield,” Weinberger said at the time.

The shooting deaths around the state this fall have taxed the short-staffed Vermont State Police, which has made arrests in two of them. The agency has a 15% vacancy rate — with 51 positions unfilled — and about a 25% functional vacancy rate meaning there are a certain number of people on family, military or other leave who are not available, said Vermont State Police Director Col. Matthew Birmingham.

“So that puts us in a challenging position. We’re doing more work — our calls for service go up every year — with less people,” he said.

Overall the country had a 6% decrease in national firearms homicides between 2021 and 2022, but Vermont saw a 185% jump, according to Vermont State Police Capt. Shawn Loan.

“So we went from seven firearms deaths in 2021 to 20 in 2022,” he said, adding that he did not have the current total for this year.

About half of the homicides in Vermont involved a firearm between 2017 and 2021, he said. Last year that rose to 86%, Loan said.

While authorities are investigating the shooting of the students as a possible hate crime, many of the homicides around Vermont this fall are likely drug-related and all are isolated from each other, Birmingham said.