SARATOGA SPRINGS – The off-duty Rutland County (Vermont) sheriff’s deputy shot by Saratoga Springs Police early Sunday in a larger shooting incident carried a non-Vermont-department-issued weapon, the deputy’s sheriff said Monday.
The deputy, whose name has still not been formally released by Saratoga Springs police Monday, lived in New York State and commuted to Vermont to work, Rutland County Sheriff David J. Fox said.
The deputy was shot by by Saratoga Springs police just after 3 a.m. Sunday on Broadway after police responded to a call for a shooting that left two people injured.
Saratoga Springs police officials have said the man held a leveled handgun and failed to respond to multiple commands to disarm before officers fired. He was taken to the hospital and remained in stable condition Monday, Saratoga Springs police said.
The other person seriously injured in the larger incident also remained hospitalized, while a woman grazed by a bullet in the larger incident was released from the hospital later Sunday, police said. Their identities have also not been released, though the man was identified as from Utica.
The Vermont deputy shot by police has been employed by the Rutland County department since April 2019, Fox, the sheriff there, said. The sheriff declined to identify the deputy.
The deputy involved in the incident worked in Rutland County approximately three days a week and has no disciplinary record, Fox said.
The Rutland County department was first notified by Saratoga Springs Sunday, but Fox said he has since not been in contact with Saratoga Springs police.
Also Monday, Saratoga Springs Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Veitch confirmed the Saratoga Springs officers who discharged their weapons in the incident have been placed on paid leave, per department policy. Veitch did not name the officers, citing the ongoing investigation.
The incident happened at about 3 a.m. by the northeast corner of Broadway and Caroline Street, after officers responded to another shooting that left two people injured.
Both of the shootings, according to street surveillance camera footage released later Sunday, occurred within a two-minute stretch. The fight was ignited by an argument, the content of which remains unknown, said Jim Montaginino, the Public Safety Commissioner Sunday.
Upwards of eight shots were fired out between the two, authorities noted.
In one of the videos officers can be heard telling the off-duty Vermont deputy to lower his weapon multiple times.
Saratoga Springs Police officers fired their weapons at least 11 times, Montagnino said. None of the Saratoga Springs police officers were injured.
Veitch said police are still investigating why both men were in the area.
“Currently we are still investigating if any incidents occurred inside of a bar prior to the shooting incident,” Veitch said.
He said any charges for those involved are still being determined.
Veitch said that police staffing levels for Wednesday night, one of the biggest party nights of the year, had been adjusted prior to this incident because it is typically a night the department sees a higher volume of calls for service.
