by Guy Page

includes information by Michael Donoghue of Vermont News First

The Burlington police officer who fired his weapon at a motorist in the Hill section of Burlington early Sunday morning is a 2017 Vermont Police Academy grad who has also served with the Colchester police department. 

The state police have identified the officer who fired his duty weapon as Jeffrey Baur. Officer Baur has served with the Burlington Police Department since 2022 and is currently assigned to the Uniform Services Bureau. He graduated from the Vermont Police Academy in 2017 and previously served with the Colchester Police Department and the Manchester Police Department. He has been placed on paid leave, per standard procedure, state police say.

The shooting, in which no one was injured, occurred when members of the Burlington Police Department received a report of a disturbance involving a male and a female arguing in the vicinity of North Prospect Street and Colonial Drive. Responding officers located a vehicle on Prospect Hill reported to be involved in the disturbance. During the encounter, Officer Baur fired his service weapon in the direction of the vehicle. The underlying complaint remains under investigation by the Burlington Police Department.

Police located a vehicle linked to the call near 16 Prospect Hill, where one officer discharged his duty weapon during the encounter.

Burlington attorney Mark Kaplan told VDC/BDN by phone this morning the incident occurred in the street outside his home. But he doesn’t know anything about why it happened and who the officer was shooting at, he said.

“It was right in front of my house,” Kaplan confirmed. He and his family were not present, he said.

Kaplan, a Vermont native, has been practicing law in Vermont since 1972. In addition to a longstanding Burlington law practice, he has served on the Burlington Board of Aldermen and the Human Service Board, and in the Vermont House of Representatives and the Vermont State Senate, according to his law firm’s website. He is also a former Chair of the Vermont Democratic Party and past president of the ACLU-VT.

Prospect Hill is located off North Prospect St.

According to a report by Michael Donoghue of Vermont News First, “the shooting happened following a report of a screaming woman possibly in distress about 12:40 a.m. One report said she got into a vehicle as a passenger, and it left the scene.
The woman was not identified by state police nor were any details about what police later classified as a ‘disturbance.’”

State police say the circumstances leading to the gunfire remain under investigation by the VSP Major Crime Unit, with assistance from the Crime Scene Search Team.

The officer, whose name will be released after 24 hours after the initial announcement Sunday morning, has been placed on paid administrative leave in keeping with department policy. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be reviewed by both the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the appropriate State’s Attorney’s Office.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the VSP Williston Barracks at 802-878-7111 or submit an anonymous tip at https://vsp.vermont.gov/tipsubmit.