A Brattleboro police officer involved in the fatal shooting of a man in a church five years ago has been dismissed from the force.
Neither the town nor former officer Terrence Parker would discuss the circumstances of the dismissal.
Parker was reprimanded recently by Police Chief John Martin but town officials won’t say why.
Parker was the chief of the Vernon volunteer fire department until recently. He and other firefighters caused concern this summer after firing weapons at a gravel pit, prompting an inquiry by the town select board.
Five years ago, Parker and fellow officer Marshall Holbrook shot and killed Robert “Woody” Woodward in a West Brattleboro church where Woodward, brandishing a three-and-a-half-inch knife, had threatened to kill himself and allegedly lunged at the officers.
The attorney general ruled the shooting justified.