MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A man has been shot dead outside an apartment complex in what police say is the first murder in the nation's smallest capital city in almost a century. 
 
 An arrest warrant was issued for Jayveon Caballero on a murder charge following the Sunday morning shooting in Montpelier, police said. Police were seeking Caballero in the killing of Markus Austin, whose body was found in the apartment complex's parking lot. 
 
 Caballero is believed to have boarded a bus on Sunday in White River Junction. Police said the bus was headed to New York City but had several intermediate stops where he could have gotten off. 
 
 Caballero and Austin had been involved in an altercation outside Gustos bar in Barre earlier Sunday morning, police said. During the altercation Austin assaulted Caballero's girlfriend, witnesses said. Caballero later confronted Austin outside Austin's apartment and shot him, police said. 
 
 Caballero's girlfriend, Desiree Cary, was arrested Sunday evening in Barre, where Caballero lives. She appeared in court Monday, pleaded not guilty to drug charges and was released. 
 
 Montpelier has about 7,500 residents, making it the nation's least populous capital. 
 
 Police Chief Anthony Facos said the shooting death of Austin was the first murder in the city since the 1920s, when a woman shot her husband. He did not have additional details of that case. ||||| MONTPELIER — A judge has granted police an arrest warrant for the killing of a Montpelier man early Sunday morning, but the suspect remains at large and may have fled the state, according to police. 
 
 Vermont State Police Maj. Glenn Hall said police have an arrest warrant for Jayveon Caballero, 29, of Barre, for second degree murder. Bail has been set at $500,000. 
 
 But Caballero may have fled the state, according to Hall. Police are not sure if Caballero is traveling by vehicle. Anyone with information about his location or the shooting is asked to contact the Vermont State Police. 
 
 The victim, 33-year-old Markus Austin, was shot outside his apartment at 191 Barre Street in Montpelier around 4:30 a.m. Sunday morning. Hall said Monday that they have since learned that Caballero and Austin knew each other and were involved in an altercation outside the Gustos bar on Prospect Street in Barre prior to the shooting. 
 
 Hall said the altercation involved several others, some of whom have been interviewed by police. Hall said detectives received information during their investigation that Caballero’s girlfriend, Desiree Cary, was assaulted by Markus Austin during the altercation at the bar. 
 
 Hall said Caballero then confronted Austin outside the Montpelier apartment building and shot him. 
 
 Cary, 22, who was the target of an ongoing drug distribution investigation by the Vermont Drug Task Force, was taken into custody following a motor vehicle stop in Barre Sunday evening, Hall said. She has been held in custody for lack of $10,000 bail and faces charges of selling crack cocaine and heroin. She is scheduled to be arraigned in Washington County Superior Court Criminal Division this afternoon. 
 
 Cary lives with Caballero at 1099 South Barre Road in Barre, where a Vermont State Police Tactical Services unit and detectives executed a search warrant early Monday in an attempt to take Caballero into custody. 
 
 Austin is a former member of the Vermont Frost Heaves, a now-dissolved team in the American Basketball Association, a semi-pro league. ||||| A murder suspect remains on the run following a weekend shooting in Montpelier. It left a former Vermont Frost Heaves basketball player dead. WCAX News is learning the victim and the shooter may have been friends. It appears to have been a night out at the bar gone wrong. 
 
 Jayveon Caballero, 29, is wanted for second-degree murder. Nearly 48 hours after he allegedly shot a man to death in Montpelier, police still don't know where he is. 
 
 "He may have gotten on a bus yesterday morning in White River Junction, a Greyhound bus, heading south," said Maj. Glenn Hall, Vermont State Police. 
 
 Police say Caballero fatally shot Markus Austin, 33. A friend told investigators Austin was invited out with friends to join Caballero, who he called "my boy Jay." But at the end of the night a fight broke out. 
 
 "We do know from the investigation that there was an altercation outside Gusto's bar in Barre," said Hall. 
 
 The alleged shooter's girlfriend, Desiree Cary, 22, told police that she got mad and hit Austin as they left the bar. Austin allegedly hit her back, injuring her jaw bone. Court documents show Caballero appeared upset and then went to find Austin at a Barre Street apartment. 
 
 "He walked over to the victim's car and shot him and walked back," said Jeff Sarpong, witness. 
 
 Sarpong says he woke up to someone yelling outside and a gunshot, and then looked out his window. 
 
 "I see him turn around, wave with a gun," said Sarpong. 
 
 He said Caballero appeared to show sympathy just seconds after pulling the trigger. 
 
 "He then just kept on asking, 'Are you OK?'" Sarpong said. 
 
 "After he noticed what he had done and that he wasn't responsive, he just drove away," said Sarpong. 
 
 In an attempt to locate Caballero, police raided his apartment early Monday morning but he wasn't there. Neighbors say they've dealt with constant problems from the property in the past. 
 
 "Drag racing up and down. Cars constantly in and out," said a neighbor. 
 
 Late Sunday, Caballero's girlfriend was taken into custody on charges unrelated to the shooting. 
 
 "She was a target of an ongoing drug investigation," said Hall. 
 
 Meanwhile, the search for Caballero continues. 
 
 Authorities say the bus Caballero may have gotten on was headed for New York City. They're unsure if he got off at a stop before that and are now reaching out to other states to help. 
 
 They're also asking anyone who may know where he is to contact them. 
 
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 Former Frost Heaves player fatally shot in Montpelier
– Police in the country's smallest state capital are investigating something that hasn't happened there in living memory: a murder. Police in Vermont say they have issued an arrest warrant for 29-year-old Jayveon Caballero, who is accused of fatally shooting Markus Austin in Montpelier early Sunday after an altercation, the Times Argus reports. Witnesses told investigators that Austin, 33, assaulted Caballero’s girlfriend, Desiree Cary, during the altercation outside a bar in the nearby city of Barre early Sunday. Police say Caballero later confronted Austin outside his apartment and shot him dead. The body was found in the parking lot of Austin's apartment complex. A Vermont State Police spokesman says Caballero, who knew Austin before the shooting, fled the town and probably the state after the shooting, WCAX reports. The police spokesman says Caballero is believed to have boarded a Greyhound bus bound for New York City on Sunday morning, which made numerous stops in other states along the way. Later Sunday, Cary, 22, was arrested on apparently unrelated charges of selling heroin and crack cocaine. With around 7,500 residents, Montpelier has the smallest population of any state capital, the AP notes. Police Chief Anthony Facos says this is the city's first murder since a woman shot her husband in the 1920s.