A man’s struggle with mental illness led to violence in Milton
MMental health

A man’s struggle with mental illness led to violence in Milton

  • October 2, 2025

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Milton Police officer Sgt. Paul Locke continues to suffer the lasting mental and physical impacts of a shooting that left him injured earlier this spring.

Locke was shot while responding to an apartment fire in April. The perpetrator, Aaron LaRoche, took his own life.

Police had previously tried to coax the 38-year-old recluse to receive psychiatric treatment on more than a dozen occasions, but he always refused.

Darren Perron, spoke with Seven Days’ Colin Flanders, who wrote in this week’s issue, about the months leading up to the shooting, and the gaps in the mental health system that led to the violence.

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