by Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First, and staff reports

Colchester — St. Albans City and state police stopped a car Sunday night that was carrying people wanted for questioning about a shooting earlier in the day in Colchester, officials said. Colchester Police said they are investigating the shooting of a man in the Old Fort Ethan Allen off Vermont 15 shortly after 4 p.m. Sunday.

Also, police are investigating two Friday, November 17 shooting. A man has suffered life-threatening injuries after being shot in the chest following a late-night altercation on Maple Street in Hartford (White River Junction). And a 55-year-old man was shot at on St. Paul Street in Burlington. (See detail below).

Initial reports indicated the man in Colchester may have been shot in an arm and in a leg on Ethan Allen Avenue and sustained life-threatening injuries. His name was not released.

No arrests have been made, Acting Police Chief Peter Hull said. The initial findings indicate that the shooting is not a random event, Hull said.

Area police were put on alert to watch for a vehicle, possibly a silver Pontiac, that was involved in the incident. St. Albans City and Vermont State Police stopped the vehicle carrying at least two women on Lake Street shortly after 7 p.m., a spokesman said.

The car was impounded and being towed to Colchester Police. The women were being transported to St. Albans City Police initially. Their names were not released.

Colchester Police requested the Vermont State Police Crime Scene Search Team to respond to the shooting to help with the collection of evidence.

Independent News Videographer Wayne Savage captured members of Colchester Rescue and St. Michael’s College Fire and Rescue carrying the man out of the old Colonial-style brick residence and down the main stairs.

The video shows the man was placed on a waiting gurney and wheeled to a Colchester Rescue ambulance before he was transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center.

Winooski and Essex Police were also assisting. Anyone with information is asked to call Colchester Police at (802) 264-5555. Portions of Ethan Allen Avenue in the old Fort were sealed off as the CPD investigation unfolded.

In Hartford, police say a confrontation occurred inside a two-story apartment at 1407 Maple Street, resulting in a gunshot wound to the chest of a male victim. The victim went out into the road, where he was found and treated by police and emergency workers and transported to the hospital. Police recovered evidence in the apartment, including a 9MM handgun, believed to be the weapon used in the shooting.

In Burlington, at about 3:28 Friday morning, Burlington police dispatchers received multiple 911 calls reporting the discharge of a firearm near the intersection of St Paul Street and Maple Street. When officers arrived, they encountered a man, 55, who identified himself as the victim. He exhibited signs of having been in a fight and was intoxicated to the point that he was ultimately deemed incapacitated and taken into custody.

Officers nonetheless investigated his claims. That investigation indicated that there had been an altercation among the victim and three other males. During this altercation, police have probable cause to believe that a single gunshot occurred, possibly from within a jacket pocket on one of the males. No ballistics evidence was recovered and no persons are known to have been struck, police say. Police say it was the 15th illegal gunfire incident of 2023.