Ulysses Ivey Jr.

On the evening of Wednesday, October 26, 2022, at around 8 p.m., Ivey was shot near the Green Mountain Power substation off Route 9, just before the exit ramp west of Route 279, in Bennington. Court documents later described a Facebook message, sent from Erin Wilson's account, asking Ivey to meet at the "power plant"; he replied that he was less than five minutes away.

According to the police affidavit, a surveillance camera at the substation recorded Ivey's car pulling in, followed by a Honda SUV, and then two shots fired by an occupant of the SUV. Ivey called 911, said he had been shot in the head and named "Elliot Russell" as the shooter. Rescue workers tried and failed to save him, and he died at the scene. He was 39.

His funeral was held on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at Hanson-Walbridge and Shea Funeral Home on West Main Street in Bennington. The family asked that memorial gifts be made to the Ronald McDonald House.

Ulysses Ivey Jr. was born in New York City on May 20, 1983, the son of Ulysses Ivey Sr. and Darlene Pruitt. In an interview with the Bennington Banner the day after his death, his older sister Ulysa Ivey said the family had been split up by the foster care system for years, that there were sixteen siblings in all, and that she had largely raised him herself. She said he grew up without a father and was named after her.

His family obituary says he attended local schools. He later settled in Bennington, Vermont, where he lived on Main Street.

His sister told the Bennington Banner that Ivey "worked a good job at AT&T" and was teaching himself to invest so he could build something for his children's future. His family obituary said that one of his proudest accomplishments was owning his own business, and it listed window tinting among the things he enjoyed.

Outside work he liked gaming and fishing, collected knives, loved music and was, in his family's words, "amazing at drawing," something he had done since childhood.

Ivey was with his partner, Shannon Matteson of Bennington, for more than twenty years. They had five daughters: Naomi, Lauren, Natalie, Natasha and Narissa Ivey. He was predeceased by a son, Ulysses Ivey III.

His obituary said that his children were his proudest accomplishment and that his family "meant everything to him and was his main motivation in life." His sister Ulysa said, "He had five daughters who he loved with all his heart." He was survived by his mother, Darlene, and by fifteen siblings: Tylene Ivey, Shimea Ivey, Jacinta Pruitt, Ulysa Ivey, Fatima Ivey, Izzy Marrero, Atasha Johnson, Ishmel Marrero, Darlene Street, Arbu Marrero, Kahliah Cooper, Rasheen Marrero, Joseph Cooper, Tatiana Coleman and Alita Coleman.

Elliot Russell, then 46 and known as "Face," was arrested on October 27, 2022, in Hoosick Falls, New York. He had been released from a Vermont prison only about three months earlier, after serving a 13 to 15 year sentence for a 2007 attempted murder in which he stabbed a man outside a bar on Main Street in Bennington. He also had earlier convictions in New York and Vermont.

Russell was first charged with second degree murder in November 2022; the charge was later raised to first degree murder. His girlfriend at the time, Erin Wilson, was arrested days after the shooting and charged as an accessory after the fact. In the summer of 2023 she was charged with further felony counts, including accessory to first degree murder. Court documents outlined jealousy within the Russell and Wilson relationship as a possible motive. In March 2025 Judge Jennifer Barrett severed the two cases, and Wilson later agreed to a plea deal, with a change of plea hearing scheduled for March 5, 2026.

Russell's trial opened in Bennington Superior Court in May 2026, prosecuted by Deputy State's Attorney Jared Bianchi. On May 11, 2026, the jury convicted him of first degree premeditated murder. At sentencing on Monday, November 9, 2026, Russell maintained his innocence and his family played an extended recording of the 911 call that they said contained an additional voice. The court said nothing presented would change the jury's verdict and imposed the maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. Under Rule 3(b) of the Vermont Rules of Appellate Procedure, a life sentence triggers an automatic appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court.

Ivey is remembered by his family as a devoted father who overcame a childhood in foster care to build a home, a business and a family of his own. His sister said, "My brother was trying to do it right. He wasn't perfect, but he was trying to live his life right."

The 911 call in which he named his attacker became central evidence in one of the few first degree murder convictions in Bennington County's history. His family, including his sister on her YouTube channel, kept public attention on the case through the four years it took to reach a verdict and sentence.

The killing and the prosecution were covered by the Bennington Banner and Manchester Journal, VTDigger, WCAX, WPTZ (NBC5), WNYT and WTEN in Albany, and WUPE in the Berkshires. Gun violence memorial sites also list him among people lost to gun violence in 2022.