Court-ordered search in Brownington in connection with the fatal shooting

BROWNINGTON — Vermont State Police have conducted a court-ordered search in Brownington in connection with the fatal shooting of a Vermont Army National Guard member at his home on Vermont 16 in Wheelock two weeks ago. Police offered few comments about the major presence of detectives and crime scene technicians with marked and unmarked police vehicles on Friday at the two-story home and surrounding property on Chapdelaine Road off Hinman Settler Road. Investigators are trying to learn more about the fatal shooting that killed Gunnar Watson, 27, in the doorway of his residence about 6 a.m. Monday Oct. 16. One report indicated Watson had started his vehicle and had gone back in the front door when he was apparently shot from a hidden location. A woman at the house called Vermont State Police to report the dead man at the scene. Troopers responded along with rescue crews from Glover and Hardwick. The body was taken to the office of Vermont’s Chief Medical Examiner in Burlington where an autopsy showed Watson died from a gunshot wound to the torso. The doctor said she determined it was a homicide, state police said.