Ludlow Police Chief Deemed Justified in New Year's Day Shooting
With hands in pockets, Jamie Gomez told Chief Warfle 'I'm good bro,' before lunging at him with a concealed knife.
Attorney General Charity Clark announced today that Ludlow Police Chief Jeffrey Warfle will not be prosecuted for shooting Jaime Gomez, 18, during a January 1 confrontation at the Fox Run Inn. Both Clark’s office and Caledonia State’s Attorney Claire Burns, acting as conflict counsel, independently concluded the use of deadly force was justified under Vermont law.
The January 1 Incident
The shooting occurred around 6:22 a.m. after Warfle responded to a 911 call reporting a noise disturbance at the Fox Run Inn in Ludlow. The complainant reported the noise was coming from a first-floor unit directly below their second-floor apartment.
When Warfle arrived, he knocked on Gomez’s door and spoke with him about the noise complaint. Gomez, who was previously known to Warfle, repeatedly asked “What was I yelling about?” The chief responded that he did not know but would ask the complainant and return. Based on Gomez’s mannerisms, Warfle commented at one point, “You seem like you’re maybe in crisis,” to which Gomez responded, “No crisis.” This initial interaction lasted approximately three minutes and was peaceful, according to the Attorney General’s review.
Warfle then walked up an exterior staircase to speak with the second-floor resident. At approximately 6:27 a.m., while Warfle was interacting with the complainant outside their door, Gomez ascended the same staircase with his hands in his jacket pockets.
The Confrontation
As Gomez approached, Warfle extended his left hand in a stop gesture while asking Gomez four times to remove his hands from his jacket pockets. When Gomez reached the second-floor landing without stopping, Warfle told him to stop seven more times while keeping his left hand extended.
Warfle again asked Gomez to “please take your hands out of your pockets for me,” to which Gomez responded, “I’m good bro, I don’t have anything.” Gomez then attempted to strike Warfle with a knife he had concealed in a jacket pocket. At this time, Gomez and Warfle were less than ten feet apart, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
In response, Warfle drew his weapon and fired two 9mm rounds from his Glock 45 sidearm. One round grazed Gomez’s left forearm, and another pierced his abdomen. After discharging his weapon, Warfle called for additional officers and emergency medical services. Gomez was arrested and transported to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.
The Legal Standard
Under Vermont law, an officer may use deadly force when they objectively and reasonably believe a person has the present ability, opportunity, and apparent intent to immediately cause death or serious bodily injury. The use of deadly force is deemed necessary when, given the totality of circumstances, an objectively reasonable officer in the same situation would conclude there was no reasonable alternative.
The Attorney General’s Office concluded that under 13 V.S.A. § 2305(3), Warfle “reasonably believed that he was in imminent danger of being killed or suffering great bodily harm and was, therefore, justified in using deadly force.”
“Under the totality of these circumstances,” the decision states, “an objectively reasonable officer in Chief Warfle’s position would have concluded that there was no other reasonable alternative than the use of deadly force to prevent death or serious bodily injury to himself or others.”
The Investigation Process
Vermont State Police conducted the investigation, interviewing Warfle on January 9. Following standard protocol for officer-involved shootings, the Vermont State Police Major Crime Unit led the investigation, and both the Attorney General’s Office and the relevant county’s state’s attorney’s office conducted independent reviews.
The investigation included body camera footage, witness interviews, and physical evidence. Vermont State Police obtained an arrest warrant for Gomez on January 2 for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Criminal Charges Against Gomez
Gomez was discharged from Dartmouth-Hitchcock on January 21 and extradited to Vermont to face charges including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, attempted aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted second-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty to all charges on January 22 and is being held without bail at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield.
According to an affidavit filed in Windsor Superior Court, Gomez told investigators at the hospital that he had been hearing voices for several years and continued to hear them during the two or three months he lived at the Fox Run Inn. Gomez said he was scared that morning because he thought he could go to jail for yelling, and admitted to investigators that he tried to attack the chief and “wasn’t thinking,” the affidavit states.
Background on Chief Warfle
Warfle was appointed Ludlow’s police chief in 2025 after previously working as a Rutland City police officer. VTDigger reported that in February 2019, then-Rutland County State’s Attorney Rose Kennedy issued Warfle a Brady letter after he admitted that a disorderly conduct citation he had issued did not rise to the level of a charge.
Brady letters, filed by prosecutors when an officer’s credibility is called into question, can significantly impact an officer’s career. The letters require prosecutors to disclose the information to defense attorneys in cases where the officer is a witness.
Warfle was also present during a 2023 officer-involved shooting in Ludlow as field training officer for Officer Matthew Paul, who shot and killed Kevin Bacon, 37. Warfle did not fire his weapon during that incident.
Mental Health and Policing
Vermont Public noted a “longstanding pattern in Vermont of police shootings involving people with mental health issues.” Lawmakers introduced legislation this session intended to prevent these situations, though the specific bill was not identified in reporting.
The Attorney General’s Office review makes no mention of mental health considerations in its legal analysis, focusing solely on whether Warfle’s use of force met the statutory requirements for justified deadly force at the moment of the confrontation.
Note: This article is based on the Attorney General’s Office announcement released March 13, 2026, Vermont State Police reports, and contemporaneous news coverage. The criminal case against Jaime Gomez remains pending.