Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this emergency select board meeting concerning the incident that happened in town last night. First of all, I want to thank the sheriff, the state police, and all the other police

from Louisville that arrived. Bradford was here. I don't know who else from other departments—Essex County, New Orleans County—came. Mr. W. So, again, we very much appreciate your continuing

service in this ongoing situation. So, first of all, I would like to point out that two board members are on Zoom because they're out of town, but we do have all five select board members present. I

want to make that clear. Our concern, of course, is for Captain Jason Gray. Could you please give us an update on his condition?

Captain Gray is still at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He did sustain severe injuries. He is alert and his family is with him. It seems promising, though he's going to be in a substantial amount of pain, and he'll probably be there for

at least three days while they help him breathe properly. But from what I'm hearing—and I'm not a medical professional—he's going to make a full recovery. We're obviously thinking about him and his family.

We're also thinking about the rest of our police department, and the dispatch and the first responders that all dealt with this. It was a very traumatic event, and we're committed to providing

them the support they need to get through this down the road as they relive the circumstances. But there was some pretty incredible action from the police department, particularly Officer Jasmine Henry. She got him to the hospital almost immediately, and I think

probably really helped. So, the next thing, Captain Pierce is actually on a call and will be here shortly. So again, I just want to point that out and I have a statement from him. And so the incident is being led

by them, and the investigation is in the hands of Vermont State Police. So Steve and I have talked about this and we're going to ask that the public rely on correspondence and press releases from Vermont State

Police as their sole source of accurate information. Right now, it's no time for the rumor mill to muddy the waters. So we're just asking the public to really look for accurate information coming from the

state police, and we appreciate that Chief Joe Pierce will continue to work with the agencies that responded. We've had several agencies that have offered support so that we can ensure that one of the

The investigation is supported by our departments as much as possible.  But also, to make sure that we have police presence in St. Johnsbury for patrol while our officers are recovering. And so there's been a lot

of outreach from other agencies coming here to provide patrol to make sure that our community is safe. And so Chief Pierce will continue to make the statement that he came up with for community members. Uh, it's

it's this: our community needs to consider, recognize and understand that a police officer was shot in a random act of violence. Scott Mason's rational decision-making was absent and he remains at large. When questioning if there is a community safety risk, use your best

judgment. There's always a potential for violence, yet the circumstances at hand heighten this potential. We urge that, regardless of how you proceed, stay vigilant and remain aware of your surroundings. Please be rational and use your best judgment, but err on the side of caution until Scott Mason is in

custody. And so, at the request of Chief Pierce and with support from my office, I would like to request from the Selectboard the use of $25,000 as a reward for any information that leads to the arrest of Scott Mason.

We have a motion to provide a reward of up to $25,000 for any information that leads to the arrest of Scott Mason. Is there any discussion from Selectboard members? Seeing none, I'll call the vote. All those in favor of the motion say aye,

Those opposed? No, the motion carries. Thank you very much. Um, also, board members will have a chance to say whatever they want. I just want to make it clear that the board will do whatever the police ask us to do, whatever we can do to help. We will give them the

resources. I understand that in this situation, police officers need resources to help them with this trauma. And again, if there's something we need to do in town, then we are going to do it. We will do whatever we need to do.

Um, and the community is... I don't have anything else. Um, to the Sheriff and State Police here, anything you would like to say?  Um, just that we'll add as much assistance as we can, like you

said, that is available; we're available. But then, as we go forward, like I said, we're right near our office. So they need our whole system. I appreciate that. Um, from the State Police perspective, I would just echo

what the town manager said about information. Obviously, the community is...frank and other stuff. Uh, I would ask that people respect our process. We are committed to being fully transparent about what's going on and sharing information as close to real time as we can.  And we intend to be a

resource for the public to maintain awareness. We are bringing the full weight of the state police to bear on this situation. No resources are unavailable for this. Our Major Crimes Unit is leading the investigation. This is obviously a multifaceted

looking not only at the investigation of the incident itself, making sure that it's properly supported with that and everything else, but also the investigation into locating Mr. Mason and apprehending him. So it has many moving parts where you're going to continue to see a very visible

presence of the Vermont State Police here and in the village of Saint Johnsbury, the surrounding communities. We communicate very regularly with the Chief; we have many law enforcement partners with the Sheriff, many local municipal agencies that have stepped up and are participating in making resources available. We also collaborated with a number of our federal partners to assist in this.

So it is all steam ahead from an investigator's standpoint, and as soon as we have new information to release, we will... I mean, I would echo what the town manager said about cognizance. 

Look, I would have... I'm going to walk up and grab a bite to eat after this meeting today here in town. I maintain vigilance of my surroundings; I maintain appropriate personal safety measures, and that's what I would encourage the public to do. I don't think there's, at this stage, any reason for people not to come into the village and go about

their business. And certainly if that changes, the state police is prepared to communicate that. And I would say the chief and I have worked together in a professional capacity going back a decade and a half plus now. I cut my teeth here in the Northeast Kingdom.

for 15 plus years. You know, this is uh, the senselessness of this act. Uh, The tragedy of this act hits me as well. I worked with Captain Gray for numerous years, uh, as a road trooper. Um, so, um, from a personal standpoint too, I

just come forth and, and just say, you know, this one really is near and dear to my heart too. And I want to see a resolution brought forth as quickly as possible. Uh, Lieutenant Wynn's here with me. He's, uh, my local

representative in Saint Johnsbury. Uh, I know that he and the chief work very closely also with the sheriff. Um, and there are robust communication channels amongst uh, local, um, law enforcement here. So,

do you have any questions? I'll, I'll do my best to answer them. I just wanna say thank you. Yes. Um, Chief. So we have, just to let you know, approved the reward of up to $25,000 for information at your and, um,

Chad's request. I just, um, I give you this chance to, to speak to us, but also on a personal level. How are you doing? I know how much this will impact you. He's not only a coworker but a friend. Yeah. Uh, I think that we're

holding down right now, so we'll, we'll figure it out. I think uh, for me that the, I'll let my emotions go after, you know, we'll try to hold on a little bit longer. But, um, yeah, I appreciate that. Yeah,

But you know that again, uh, we had said this, but I want to make sure to say it directly to you: whatever you need, the Select Board would give you. I appreciate that. Yes, thank you. Yeah, you have. And if you take an action,

we're behind you. Thank you, because you're the professional. You're the one who knows what needs to be done in this situation. Same thing to all the officers: you know what you need to do. So you, I'm not going to judge you, but

I don't think anyone will. Have you, Vietnam… Anything you would like to say before we adjourn? Because we'd love to do it. No, I don't know. All right, thank you. I'm so glad you're here. Do we owe

a thank you to the New Hampshire State Police for that chopper? Oh, okay. Yeah, there's a heavy presence of troopers and police officers there last night. So there's over 100… No, down there last night, it was probably close to 15 or 20. I

was glad to see that. So we have a motion to adjourn. Thank you everyone for coming out this afternoon. And again, just reinforce: accurate information comes from Vermont State News. It does not come from social media.

Raw video: St. Johnsbury, Vermont selectboard holds emergency meeting amid search for man who all...

WMUR.com is your top source for New Hampshire breaking news, weather and daily local news coverage. Look to News 9 for political coverage of the first-in-the-nation primary, viral videos, slideshows and more.

Raw video: St. Johnsbury, Vermont selectboard holds emergency meeting amid search for man who all...

Scripts