BREAKING NEWS - MIddlebury Shooting Incident

Yesterday a male identifying himself as George Demarais of Middlebury called 9-1-1, and said he "wanted to die via suicide by cop,' and that he would be in the woods behind his home.  Immediate attempts were made by officers of the Middlebury Police Department to reach Demarais by phone, but the calls went unanswered.  Police responded to the area to locate George and were unable to determine if he was in his home or not.  Concurrent investigation determined he lived in the home alone.  Due to the threat of "suicide by cop," officers were placed in a perimeter around the visible front of the home, pending repeat efforts to contact Demarias.  Late in the afternoon, Demarais came out of the home carrying a long gun, and approached Case Street.  Sgt. Jason Covey called to him, asked him to drop the gun, and attempted to speak with him.  Demarais turned and walked to the rear of the home towards the woods carrying the gun.  Officers found a note taped to his vehicle that said "Come and get me, I hope you can shoot straight, because I can."  Officers later located George on a steep slope behind the home, when he began firing at them.  There was an exchange of gunfire, during which Sgt. Covey made further efforts to convince Demarais to surrender.  George continued firing, and in the exchange of gunfire, Demarais suffered a fatal wound.  At this time, it is not known if the wound was self inflicted, or caused by police gunfire.  During the attempt to locate and contain Demarais, Case Street was closed between Cobble Road and Quarry Road for several hours.  The investigation of the incident was turned over to the Vermont State Police, under the auspices of the Addison County State's Attorney.