In the late afternoon hours of November 7, 2022, the city of Rutland, Vermont, was disrupted by a sequence of events that culminated in the tragic death of 26-year-old Jonathan Naranjo, a Hispanic male from Brooklyn, New York. Around 4:15 p.m., Rutland City police were dispatched to the vicinity of State Street and Cleveland Avenue following reports of a motor vehicle crash. A subsequent call, however, indicated a shooting had also occurred in the same area.
Upon their arrival, officers discovered Naranjo deceased inside the crashed vehicle. An autopsy later confirmed that he had died from gunshot wounds to his torso and upper extremity, and his death was officially ruled a homicide.
The initial investigation undertaken by the Vermont State Police and Rutland City Police Department suggested that the shooting was not a random act of violence, but rather that Naranjo had been specifically targeted. For months, the case remained under active investigation, with law enforcement agencies piecing together the events that led to the fatal encounter. This included the Vermont State Police's Major Crime Unit, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and Crime Scene Search Team, who worked to unravel the circumstances of Naranjo's death.
A significant breakthrough in the case came in March of the following year. Investigators identified 18-year-old Trayvon Kisling, of Staten Island, New York, as the primary suspect in the shooting. After securing an arrest warrant, law enforcement learned that Kisling was likely in Vermont. On March 15, 2023, a coordinated operation involving the Vermont State Police's Tactical Services Unit, the Vermont Drug Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation was executed. Kisling was located inside a vehicle at a Shell gas station and convenience store in Brandon and was taken into custody without incident. He was subsequently transported to the state police barracks in Rutland for processing on charges of first-degree murder, first-degree aggravated domestic assault, and obstruction of justice.
