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Vermont shooting suspect's shotgun was taken by police after ex-girlfriend's plea
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useapen
Nov 30, 2023, 2:20:16 AM11/30/23
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The man accused of shooting three Palestinian college
students in Vermont last weekend had a shotgun confiscated by police in
upstate New York a decade ago, after an ex-girlfriend said there were
domestic disputes and wanted the weapon removed from her home, police
records show.
The then-37-year-old woman told Syracuse police that she and Jason Eaton
had just broken up and were no longer living together. She also told them
he had a history of mental illness, according to the records reviewed by
NBC News.
"She has a history of domestic violence with Eaton," Officer Justin Smith
wrote regarding the property complaint call on Aug. 1, 2013.
It's unclear from the records the extent of the domestic violence and
mental illness claims made by the ex-girlfriend, and Syracuse police said
Wednesday that no criminal charges were filed involving Eaton or the
woman.
NBC News is withholding the woman's name since it typically does not
identify victims of potential domestic violence.
Police said they removed the weapon, a Deerslayer 20-gauge shotgun, from
the home and it was stored as evidence. It's unclear if Eaton later
reclaimed the gun from the police department.
Authorities said the firearm was legally obtained.
Eaton’s past has come under scrutiny as police continue to investigate a
motive for the Burlington, Vermont, shooting, which has added to the fears
of rising Islamophobia in response to the conflict in Gaza and prompted
calls from civil rights groups for authorities to weigh additional hate
crime charges.
Authorities removing Eaton's shotgun wasn't the first time he was named or
involved in a police call in or around Syracuse, where he had been living
prior to moving to Burlington in recent months.
Two weeks before his ex-girlfriend called police, Eaton had initiated a
call to the home on child custody issues related to a child that he and
the woman shared, police records show. Details of that call were not
immediately available.
In total, Eaton initiated or was named in 37 police reports from April 11,
2007, to Nov. 16, 2021, although mostly for minor incidents, such as
calling in a traffic accident or having his car broken into.
On Oct. 10, 2021, Eaton called police about a dispute with his landlord.
Police responded and they settled the matter at the scene, records show.
Margaret Jansch, Eaton’s public defender in Vermont, said Wednesday that
her office would not comment when asked about his past brushes with law
enforcement.
NBC News reported Tuesday that another ex-girlfriend of Eaton's called
police in DeWitt, a suburb of Syracuse, in 2019 to say he had been sending
her "numerous text messages, emails and phone calls." The messages, which
"were sexual in nature but not threatening," came after the woman made it
clear she didn't want "to communicate with him or see him anymore,"
according to a police report.
Police encountered Eaton while the ex-girlfriend spoke with an officer,
according to the report, and while she didn't want Eaton to be arrested,
she asked for a domestic incident report to be completed so she could
possibly use it in securing a restraining order against him.
Eaton was never arrested in connection with any of the incidents involving
Syracuse police.
Following his arrest in Burlington on three counts of attempted murder in
the second degree, Vermont police said he did not appear to be known to
them beyond several traffic and vehicle-related tickets from 1998 to 2016.
The three shooting victims — Kinnan Abdalhamid, Tahseen Ali Ahmad and
Hisham Awartani, all 20 — told investigators they were walking past a
house Saturday evening near the University of Vermont campus when a white
male emerged, pulled out a gun and opened fire. The trio — longtime
friends who graduated from the same school in the occupied West Bank and
are attending separate colleges in the U.S. — suffered injuries to the
spine, chest and glute.
Two of the three victims were wearing kaffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian
nationalism, and said they spoke a mix of English and Arabic during their
walk, according to investigators. The friends also said they did not know
the shooter and didn't recall him saying anything to them before firing.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vermont-shooting-suspect-shotgun-
taken-police-ex-girlfriends-plea-rcna127245
students in Vermont last weekend had a shotgun confiscated by police in
upstate New York a decade ago, after an ex-girlfriend said there were
domestic disputes and wanted the weapon removed from her home, police
records show.
The then-37-year-old woman told Syracuse police that she and Jason Eaton
had just broken up and were no longer living together. She also told them
he had a history of mental illness, according to the records reviewed by
NBC News.
"She has a history of domestic violence with Eaton," Officer Justin Smith
wrote regarding the property complaint call on Aug. 1, 2013.
It's unclear from the records the extent of the domestic violence and
mental illness claims made by the ex-girlfriend, and Syracuse police said
Wednesday that no criminal charges were filed involving Eaton or the
woman.
NBC News is withholding the woman's name since it typically does not
identify victims of potential domestic violence.
Police said they removed the weapon, a Deerslayer 20-gauge shotgun, from
the home and it was stored as evidence. It's unclear if Eaton later
reclaimed the gun from the police department.
Authorities said the firearm was legally obtained.
Eaton’s past has come under scrutiny as police continue to investigate a
motive for the Burlington, Vermont, shooting, which has added to the fears
of rising Islamophobia in response to the conflict in Gaza and prompted
calls from civil rights groups for authorities to weigh additional hate
crime charges.
Authorities removing Eaton's shotgun wasn't the first time he was named or
involved in a police call in or around Syracuse, where he had been living
prior to moving to Burlington in recent months.
Two weeks before his ex-girlfriend called police, Eaton had initiated a
call to the home on child custody issues related to a child that he and
the woman shared, police records show. Details of that call were not
immediately available.
In total, Eaton initiated or was named in 37 police reports from April 11,
2007, to Nov. 16, 2021, although mostly for minor incidents, such as
calling in a traffic accident or having his car broken into.
On Oct. 10, 2021, Eaton called police about a dispute with his landlord.
Police responded and they settled the matter at the scene, records show.
Margaret Jansch, Eaton’s public defender in Vermont, said Wednesday that
her office would not comment when asked about his past brushes with law
enforcement.
NBC News reported Tuesday that another ex-girlfriend of Eaton's called
police in DeWitt, a suburb of Syracuse, in 2019 to say he had been sending
her "numerous text messages, emails and phone calls." The messages, which
"were sexual in nature but not threatening," came after the woman made it
clear she didn't want "to communicate with him or see him anymore,"
according to a police report.
Police encountered Eaton while the ex-girlfriend spoke with an officer,
according to the report, and while she didn't want Eaton to be arrested,
she asked for a domestic incident report to be completed so she could
possibly use it in securing a restraining order against him.
Eaton was never arrested in connection with any of the incidents involving
Syracuse police.
Following his arrest in Burlington on three counts of attempted murder in
the second degree, Vermont police said he did not appear to be known to
them beyond several traffic and vehicle-related tickets from 1998 to 2016.
The three shooting victims — Kinnan Abdalhamid, Tahseen Ali Ahmad and
Hisham Awartani, all 20 — told investigators they were walking past a
house Saturday evening near the University of Vermont campus when a white
male emerged, pulled out a gun and opened fire. The trio — longtime
friends who graduated from the same school in the occupied West Bank and
are attending separate colleges in the U.S. — suffered injuries to the
spine, chest and glute.
Two of the three victims were wearing kaffiyehs, a symbol of Palestinian
nationalism, and said they spoke a mix of English and Arabic during their
walk, according to investigators. The friends also said they did not know
the shooter and didn't recall him saying anything to them before firing.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/vermont-shooting-suspect-shotgun-
taken-police-ex-girlfriends-plea-rcna127245
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