Leroy Mason Credit: Courtesy of Vermont State Police
We’ve all been there. You’re cooking an omelette or burger on the stove, get distracted and, within seconds, your smoke detector is blaring and your blood pressure is skyrocketing.

But we haven’t all unloaded in the way that Leroy Mason allegedly did on Monday.

Fed up with “frequent false alarms,” the Barton man made like Doc Holliday in the O.K. Corral, twice blasting his smoke detector with a 20-gauge shotgun, Vermont State Police said.

Mason had complained previously that fire crews would not move the detector after it had gone off on other occasions. So, when he set it off again while cooking Monday afternoon, Mason “took it upon himself to relocate the smoke detector” — by blasting it to bits, according to state police.

Violence against smoke detectors is not illegal in itself, but the way Mason destroyed the device — and what happened afterward — drew the authorities’ attention.

The shotgun blast hit a wall that Mason, 68, shares with a neighboring apartment, according to cops. And the alarm attracted fire and rescue personnel, who arrived and disarmed Mason. He allegedly rearmed himself with a Colt .45 handgun and went outside, pointed it at first responders and demanded they return the shotgun. A brief standoff ensued before first responders tackled Mason and again disarmed him.

Vermont State Police arrived and arrested Mason, who was held in jail without bail. He was scheduled to appear in Orleans Superior Court on Tuesday to answer to a felony charge of aggravated assault with a weapon and a misdemeanor charge of reckless endangerment.

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Mark Davis was a Seven Days staff writer 2013-2018.

6 replies on “Barton Man Busted After Blasting Smoke Detector With a Shotgun”

  1. I’d love to know the percentage of people saved by smoke alarms versus the percentage of us who suffer dealing with these infernal devices and their constant false alarms. Most simply disable them but I can see dealing with the blaring noise driving people like this poor man into a life of crime. Not to mention the trauma it causes to animals.

  2. They make these smoke alarm dust covers with elastic bands. They are supposed to be used when working in the area or painting and you can buy them online. probably would have been a good investment. If you live in an apartment it is newer a good idea to discharge a firearm except under the most extreme circumstances.

  3. The old style smoke alarms, that had a tiny radioactive isotope, were reliable, lasted a long time and rarely created false alarms (in fact, I don’t believe my parents ever had a false alarm in over 30 years, including our growing up years). The new style smoke alarms are photo-electric and a disaster. False alarms, beeping (usually at 3 AM, just after you got the baby back to sleep & put your head on the pillow). Doesn’t seem to matter if you replace the battery or not. You need to replace them almost once a year, maybe once every two years if you’re lucky.

    Whatever regulation mandated elimination of the old style smoke alarms seems a perfect example of regulatory overreach. Probably lobbyists for the new-style smoke alarm manufacturers wrote the regulation – knew it would provide huge profits for their client who could continually crank out cheap photo-electrics that consumers are forced to constantly replace. The photo-electrics also do not seem to like humid air or marine climates.

  4. Whatever regulation mandated elimination of the old style smoke alarms seems a perfect example of regulatory overreach. Not true you can still buy an ionization smoke detector. Unless Vermont banned them, that I could believe.

  6. When old Leroy sobers up, take away his shooting irons, drop the charges, and send him home.

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