Burlington’s first ‘gunfire incident’ of 2022 occurred Saturday night. No-one was hurt as gunfire struck a home off Riverside Avenue.
According to police, shortly after 9 pm Burlington Police Department dispatchers received calls about gunfire at an apartment in the 600 block of Riverside Avenue. Residents reported there had been several shots from outside the address, some of which came into the residence.
Officers responded and swept and secured the scene. They observed evidence that a firearm had been discharged multiple times, and members of the Detectives Services Bureau’s Identification Unit were called in to collect and catalogue evidence. No one was injured, but rounds struck exterior walls and traveled through a window, striking interior walls, as well. Children were present in the home at the time of the incident.
This is the first confirmed gunfire incident of 2022. From 2012 to 2019, Burlington experienced an average of two gunfire incidents per year; in 2020 there were a dozen; in 2021 there were 14.
A gunfire incident occurs when police have probable cause to believe a firearm was discharged and reasonable suspicion that it was discharged in a criminal manner. Not all gunfire incidents are shootings, in which the gunfire strikes a person, but all gunfire incidents are dangerous crimes in the densely populated city, police say.
Detectives are seeking to identify a suspect. Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Burlington Police Department at (802) 658-2704.