ROYALTON — An early-morning shooting in Royalton left one man dead and another with critical injuries Tuesday, according to Vermont State Police.
George Sun, 41, was pronounced dead after he was shot outside a house on Route 14, Vermont State Police Detective Dan Trudeau said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Police said Sun’s friend, a 26-year-old man who has not been named, also was shot at the house and was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where he was in critical condition Tuesday afternoon.
Police are investigating the incident as a homicide, though they had not arrested anyone in connection with the shooting as of Tuesday evening.
Authorities are still questioning two men who were at the home, and who they believe were “involved” in the shooting, but have not cited them on any charges, according to Trudeau.
Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough said there’s no ongoing “public safety concern” following the shooting.
Police responded to the scene after Sun’s ex-girlfriend, who was at another location, called officers about an “altercation” at the house that sits on Route 14 across from Lyon Road.
Investigators believe there were four men at the home at the time, including the two victims and the two men currently being questioned.
Neither Sun nor the injured 26-year-old has a permanent address that police know of; identifying their place of residence is part of the investigation, according to police.
Sun had been a cook with Wicked Awesome BBQ in White River Junction for about a year, the restaurant’s owners, the McInnis family, confirmed Tuesday. Dave McInnis said Sun was a hard worker, who often took on two jobs.
The 41-year-old was proud of his Winnebago Native American heritage and had a love of making Native American jewelry, McInnis said. Sun also taught McInnis how to make traditional Winnebago fry bread, which he said “everyone loved.”
“I really had a soft spot for him. … He always treated me, my wife, our business, and our employees with the utmost respect,” McInnis wrote in a message Tuesday, saying that his whole family was saddened by the loss.
A section of Route 14 between Bridge Street and Meadow Lane was closed after the incident Tuesday, and remained closed at about 1 p.m. Two Royalton police cars were blocking traffic on the road outside the house, and crime scene tape was still set up on the house’s front lawn in the early afternoon.
David Dubey, a neighbor who lives across the street from the house, said he didn’t hear anything Tuesday morning, but he recalled waking up to find police cruisers parked outside and his street blocked off.
He said an SUV with its doors open sat in the driveway of the home.
According to property records, the house is owned by Walter and Verna English. The couple, who were in their 90s, both died last year, but the house is still listed in their name.
Trudeau said he’s unsure whether the house is being rented out and he has not had a chance to talk to the people who currently oversee the property.
Since the couple’s deaths, Dubey said, he’s seen a man and woman staying at the house, and called them “excellent neighbors.”
“They’re pretty quiet. They’ve had no fights. …They’ve been taking good care of the house,” he said.
Neighbor Scott Walton, who lives a few doors down from the house, said he’s “not surprised” by the incident. He said criminal activity has been on the rise in the neighborhood over the past 10 years.
Another neighbor, Judy Blossom, who lives just a few houses away said the neighborhood does have an issue with some low-level crimes, but in decades of living on Route 14 she’s, “never seen anything like this.”
Dubey echoed her words, calling the area a “quiet neighborhood” and a “good little town.”
“I’ve been here 20 years and nothing like this has ever happened.”
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.c om or 603-727-3216.