HARTFORD — A 22-year-old man was in stable condition after being shot in the face at the Super 8 Motel on North Hartland Road on Friday evening, according to Hartford police.
Officers responded to a 911 call at 7:30 p.m. Friday and found a man on the floor of a guest room, according to a police news release. The man was later identified as James Luce, of Quechee.
Luce was transported from the motel, which sits across the street from the White River Junction VA Medical Center, to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon. He was reported to be in stable condition.
Luce, the alleged shooter and witnesses all appeared to know each other, according the release. The alleged shooter and witnesses were cooperating with the ongoing police investigation, authorities said.
Standing outside the Super 8 on Saturday morning, Fred Clark, an Air Force veteran who has lived at the motel for the past eight months, said he “heard a pop” and “heard a girl screaming” on Friday evening.
Standing with Clark, Nathan Hill, an Army veteran, said he “heard somebody moaning and groaning” just after he checked into the motel at about 7 p.m. Friday. Sometime later, he said, he saw police escort a man to a Vermont State Police cruiser.
“I can’t believe they had a gun here,” Hill said. “Why would someone bring a gun into a motel when there’s all kinds of kids?”
The person working behind the desk on Saturday morning declined to comment on the incident and referred questions to police.
There was a Hartford police cruiser and a Vermont State Police cruiser in the motel’s parking lot on Saturday morning. Investigators were coming and going from the motel to a van from the Vermont State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations.
Those with information about the shooting are asked to call Hartford police at 802-295-9425.
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
