A 40-year-old Cambridge person faces a charge of attempted murder for a shooting at a Burlington apartment complex Sunday.
Police say Tovi Rose Mesick — formerly known as Christopher Mesick — was arrested in Winooski shortly after fleeing the scene of the alleged shooting at the Salmon Run Apartments on Riverside Avenue.
According to police, dispatchers received a 911 call from the victim’s wife just after 6:30 p.m. Responding officers found the victim, 44, with a bullet wound to the chest. Statements from witnesses and evidence at the scene allowed police to identify Mesick as the suspect.
Burlington police alerted the Winooski, Essex and University of Vermont police departments. With the help of a K-9 from Essex, Mesick was arrested by Winooski police within a half hour of the 911 call, police said.
Firefighters transported the victim to UVM Medical Center. He was in stable condition.
According to news reports, Christopher Mesick was a U.S. Army gunner during the Iraq War and was awarded a Purple Heart. After his discharge, he transitioned and changed her name to Tovi Rose Mesick.
Police said Mesick has had several dozen encounters with law enforcement, including a 2017 conviction for aggravated assault.
In January 2020, Mesick was arrested and indicted in Burlington for being a felon in possession of a firearm and with using a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm.
According to a federal criminal complaint, on January 5, 2020, Vermont State Police discovered four rifles at Mesick’s Jeffersonville residence while conducting a welfare check. Three of the guns were AR-15 style rifles with bayonets attached, and one had a 50-round drum magazine.
A week later, troopers executing a state search warrant at Mesick’s residence recovered more than 15 firearms, including several AR-15 and AK-style assault rifles, and several cases of ammunition. Police also found a footlocker full of knives and machetes, body armor and a few ounces of marijuana.
Federal prosecutors dismissed the charges in August 2021, according to a news report. An assistant U.S. attorney said during a hearing in U.S. District Court that the prosecution thought it could have trouble showing Mesick had knowledge of both crimes due to circumstances.
