By Michael Donoghue, Vermont News First

A 10-time convicted felon, who critically wounded an Essex Junction woman when he recklessly discharged a firearm into a crowd during a high-profile shooting outside a Burlington bar in 2018, has died while serving his 12½ year federal prison term.

The cause of death of Rashad Nashid, 45, was not immediately known.

Nashid apparently died May 11, according to federal inmate tracking records. Vermont News First received a tip about the death later that week and has since learned very little, except that Nashid died at Buffalo (N.Y.) General Medical Center.

Final Muslim prayer and burial services were held May 14 for Nashid in the Newark, N.J. area where he grew up. Spokesmen for both the hospital and funeral home said they would not share any details, including the cause of death.

Federal records show Nashid was last listed as serving his prison sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution — McKean in Lafayette Township, Penn., which is on the New York state line and about 90 miles south of Buffalo. It houses about 1,100 inmates, according to its website.

Multiple attempts by Vermont News First to get answers from the medium security prison about Nashid and his death were unsuccessful over the last 10 days.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has a longstanding national reputation of being one of the least responsive federal agencies in the country. It’s transparency for families, journalists and legal advocates seeking general information is known as poor.

BOP phones often go unanswered and the few times they were picked up at FCI McKean, the prison officials asked for questions to be sent in emails. Prison officials have yet to respond to any emails sent by Vermont News First since the death. FCI McKean officials also refused to put calls through to the public information officer or the prison warden, identified on a public posting as “A. Newman.”

Several federal offices in Vermont, including the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Marshals Office said they learned of Nashid’s death from Vermont News First. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Burlington, the lead federal investigation agency, also was unaware. The U.S. Probation Office in Burlington, which was due to oversee Nashid’s supervision for two years once he was discharged from prison, did not respond to a phone inquiry.

Even the office of U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said it was left in the dark when it inquired.

Before the near fatal shooting outside Nectar’s on Main Street, Nashid had a lengthy criminal record, including eight prior felony convictions. Four were out-of-state drug-related felony crimes, court records show. Nashid was prohibited from possessing any firearm as a convicted felon.

In Vermont, he eventually pleaded guilty to two more felonies in 2018 when the ATF investigation showed Nashid also fired an AR-15 at a firing range in Charlotte the day before he wounded Chelsi Parker, 26, of Essex Junction outside Nectar’s in Burlington, records show.

Nashid admitted in court to possessing two firearms in Vermont while being a felon: the handgun outside Nectar’s when he wounded the woman on Feb. 26, 2018 and the AR-15 the day before at the shooting range.

Following the shooting outside Nectar’s, two top city officials – Mayor Miro Weinberger and Police Chief Brandon del Pozo – were among those to publicly blast State’s Attorney Sarah George for not prosecuting other people involved in the dispute that led to the innocent bystander being wounded.

During a news conference del Pozo called it a “Wild West” type of shootout. George said she thought the second gunman, Carl Martin, 34, had a claim of self-defense. She said his “actions were irresponsible, dangerous and injudicious” however they were not criminal in her mind.

The “wild West” shootout was sparked by a lover’s quarrel between Nashid and Martin’s brother with both drawing weapons, police said.

Martin punched Nashid in the face and pointed a firearm, which apparently jammed, at him, police said. In return, Nashid fired his own gun in the direction of Martin, but hit Parker, the innocent bystander.

Del Pozo said the “self-serving” self-defense claim by Martin should be tested in court and left up to a Chittenden County jury.

Meanwhile, Senior Federal Judge William K. Sessions sentenced Nashid to 150 months in prison on Feb. 10, 2020.

During the sentencing, Sessions took a 20-minute break after hearing gripping testimony from Parker’s mother about the serious impact of the shooting. The victim was too traumatized to appear in court, a prosecutor said.

Sessions initially planned to recommend a federal prison in New Jersey, where Nashid was from originally. However a defense request was made for North Carolina because his parents were moving there, court records show. The designated prison in Butner, N.C. has a medical facility, but it is unknown if Nashid ever arrived there.

Sessions also ordered Nashid undergo a mental health program and a 500-hour drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

Nashid had worked at Juniors Pizza in South Burlington and Big Daddy’s Pizza in Burlington.

He fired two bullets into a crowded street in front of Nectar’s bar in Burlington with one of the bullets striking an Parker as an innocent bystander in her chest while standing on the sidewalk. The other shot pierced a bedroom window of a nearby apartment above Manhattan Pizza.

Nashid fled on foot. Moments later, Burlington Police Sgt. Daniel Merchand encountered Nashid near Handy’s Service Station on South Winooski Avenue. Nashid reached toward the waistband of his pants for a gun. Fearing that he too would be shot, Sgt. Merchand ran for cover behind his police cruiser, screamed at Nashid to put his hands up and told the suspect to get on the ground, officials said.

Nashid complied and was arrested and offered, “They was shooting at me. So I shot back.” The loaded Ruger .380-caliber handgun was seized by police.

Parker was rushed to the UVM Medical Center where she underwent multiple surgeries and remained hospitalized for several weeks. She recovered and was discharged but still suffers long-term physical and psychological effects from the shooting, officials said at the sentencing.

Also during the sentencing, Judge Sessions ruled that Nashid’s actions of shooting the firearm into the crowd was totally reckless under the circumstances and manifested extreme indifference to the value of human life.

Judge Sessions also agreed that given the seriousness of the offense and the harm to Parker and Sgt. Merchand, an upward variance from the applicable federal sentencing guideline range was warranted which resulted in the 12½ year sentence.

Burlington Police and the ATF teamed up on the wide-ranging investigation into the shooting and earlier incident. Nashid had been investigated and arrested for a drug case the year before, police said.

The shooting led to a public outcry against State’s Attorney George when she opted not to pursue charges against another gunman or his brother, who had been in a dispute with Nashid that helped spark the shooting.

Police wanted Carl Martin, who had a criminal record, to face charges of aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and aggravated disorderly conduct. George gave him a pass.

A bouncer at Nectar’s had taken the handgun from Nashid at the bar, but the weapon was later given back at the end of the night, police said. Nectar’s never contacted police before the shooting.

Nashid, who was a Muslin, reportedly had made threats, including “I’ll kill those guys. I can’t stand Africans” and other statements of that nature, George had said.

George later dropped five criminal charges in state court against Nashid when he was sentenced in federal court as part of a plea deal.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wendy Fuller noted at the federal sentencing that Nashid, then age 39, had been involved in the criminal justice system for over 20 years since the age of 17.

“In those twenty years, there has barely been a period of time in which Nashid was not facing criminal charges, on probation or in prison,” she said. Besides his four drug felony convictions, Nashid had four other felony convictions that involved resisting arrest, possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, receiving stolen property and theft by unlawful taking, Fuller said.

Nashid also had some cases that were pled down from very serious offenses, including terroristic threats, robbery, witness tampering, aggravated assault on law enforcement, and possession of a machine gun, Fuller wrote.