State police have identified the victim of a fatal shooting in northern Vermont on Monday night, and said the death is now being investigated as a homicide.
State police said the investigation began around 11:15 p.m. Monday when police received a 911 call reporting a shooting at an apartment building on Summer Street. St. Johnsbury officers responded and found a man dead at the scene. State police were then called in to head up the investigation.
St. Johnsbury, a town of about 7,300 residents, is located in Caledonia County in northern Vermont near the New Hampshire border.
State police said an autopsy was completed Wednesday, and the victim has been identified as 47-year-old Matthew Lomasney, of St. Johnsbury. They said the medical examiner also determined that the cause of death was gunshot wounds to the torso and that the manner of death was homicide.
Police said they believe the shooting was drug-related, and the apartment in question was targeted.
"Individuals have told police that a masked man arrived at the building, forced his way into an upstairs apartment, and an altercation occurred with the occupants," state police said in a press release. "Neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots. When St. Johnsbury Police Department officers arrived, they found a masked man dead at the bottom of an interior staircase."
Police said they are familiar with the location where the shooting occurred and have responded there on multiple occasions within the past year.
No arrests have been made.
Anyone with information that could assist investigators is asked to call state police at 802-748-3111 or submit an anonymous tip online at https://vsp.vermont.gov/tipsubmit.
