Andrew LadouceurNEWPORT — Police say twomen they believe are responsible forshooting and stabbing a WestCharleston woman have beenarrested. One of them, Andrew J.Ladouceur, 25, of Derby, pled innocent to felony charges of aggravated assault, first-degree unlawful restraint with risk of injury, and attempted assault androbbery with a weapon Monday inthe Criminal Division of Superior Court.

Judge Robert Bent ordered Mr. Ladouceur held without bail at Northern State Correctional Facility.

A second man, Deontae L.McNeil, 23, of Plainfield,Connecticut, was arrested inPutnam, Connecticut, and is currently awaiting extradition to Vermont.

In an affidavit, State Police Detective Sergeant Darren Annis said on Thursday, October 14, he was called to a West Charleston home to investigate a shooting.

Donelle Morin had been shot several times outside her home on Route 5A, about a quarter mile from the junction with Route 105.

A neighbor told police that he was at his camp when he heard gunshots and somebody yelling for help. He investigated and found Ms. Morin, who was bleeding from her mouth and her leg. She yelled that she had been robbed and called out for help, Sergeant Annis said.

The neighbor saw a man running up the hill behind Ms. Morin’s house, on a path that led into some woods, Sergeant Annis said.

He also saw a pickup truck stopped south of the house on Route 5A with its four-way flashers on, the neighbor told police. The neighbor described the pickup as a gray or silver full-size truck.

Ms. Morin was taken by ambulance to North Country Hospital and treated for a gunshot wound on her upper left arm, cuts on the back and palm of her left hand, and bullet wounds to her right calf and left foot.

Sheriff’s deputies arrived and blocked Route 5A from the Hudson Road to the intersection with Route 105 while officers from the State Police, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, Border

Patrol and Newport City Police Department combed the area for the pickup and the shooters. Sergeant Annis spoke with Ms. Morin at the hospital emergency room. She said she was in her shower when she heard her dog barking.

Putting on a robe, she went to the front door and saw two men approaching her house, Sergeant Annis said.

Ms. Morin said the men told her they were having problems with their truck and needed help, he said.

Ms. Morin said she discreetly called the State Police dispatch center, Sergeant Annis said. When the men asked who she was talking with she told them it was a friend, the sergeant said.

He said the two men asked Ms. Morin questions about what she had in her house and she felt they were “casing” her home. When the black man asked to use the bathroom, Ms. Morin refused, Sergeant Annis said. She photographed the two men with her cell phone, he said.

Ms. Morin told the police dispatcher that the men needed help and that she would drive them to a nearby garage, Sergeant Annis said.

He said that Ms. Morin and the men got into her Audi. The white man sat in the front passenger seat, and the other man sat in the back, Sergeant Annis said.

Ms. Morin told Sergeant Annis the man in the back seat took out a revolver, pointed it at her head and ordered her to take them back inside the house. She feared for her life and decided to disarm the gunman, Sergeant Annis said.

He said she grabbed for the gun’s long barrel and tried to get her finger between the hammer and firing pin, so the gun wouldn’t fire. Ms. Morin said that as the two struggled, she tried to point the gun toward one of the men, in case it went off, he said.

Ms. Morin thought the gun fired several times in the car, hitting her in the leg and in the foot, he said. While she tried to get the revolver, the other man took out a knife and stabbed her arms and hands, Sergeant Annis said.

When the black man had control of the gun he got out of the Audi, Sergeant Annis said. He said the two men pulled her out of the car and started looking for her cell phone.

Sergeant Annis said the men tried to force Ms. Morin into her house, but loosened their grip when a car went by on Route 5A. At that point, she broke free and ran to her other car, a BMW, climbed in and locked the door, only to realize that the keys weren’t in the car, he said.

The black man fired at the driver’s side front window, and Ms. Morin felt something puncture the palm of her left hand, Sergeant Annis said.

He said Ms. Morin feared the men might shoot her in the head, and begged them not to.

They pulled her out of the car and tried again to drag her to the house, she said.

As she again broke free and began to run  away, the man with the revolver shot at her and hit her in the arm, Sergeant Annis said.

He said Ms. Morin was able to get across Route 5A and flag down a passing motorist.

Sergeant Annis said the State Police Crime Search Team moved Ms. Morin’s cars to the Derby barracks to be searched, and investigated the driveway of her house and areas along Route 5A.

They found blood, a bullet, and three bullet holes inside the Audi, he said. There was also blood on the driveway just outside the driver’s door of the Audi, Sergeant Annis said.

The driver’s window of the BMW was also damaged as if a gun had been fired through it from outside the car, he said. Sergeant Annis said the investigators also found a smashed cell phone in the driveway.

Later Thursday a woman arrived at the Derby barracks and gave police Mr. Ladouceur’s name, Sergeant Annis said. He said she told him the other man was called D Rock, and claimed to be a member of the Crips gang from Connecticut.

Sergeant Annis said the woman admitted being involved in the incident. He said the woman needed a ride from Derby to Newport and a friend suggested asking Mr. Ladouceur, he said.

Mr. Ladouceur agreed and showed up in a gray pickup with D Rock, Sergeant Annis said.

But instead of going to Newport, they went to West Charleston, and turned onto Route 5A, he said.

The woman told Sergeant Annis that the men stopped the truck and told her to get out and go into the woods.  She said she started to question the request when she noticed D Rock had a pistol in his lap and a frightening expression on his face.

The woman watched the two men drive off toward Charleston, Sergeant Annis said.  Then she heard gunshots and a woman’s screams, he said.

The woman ran out of the woods and saw D Rock driving the truck toward her, Sergeant Annis said.

She told police D Rock still had the revolver and had what looked like blood on the underside of his hat brim. Sergeant Annis said they headed south on Route 5A, then turned around and headed back.  They saw a sheriff’s deputy stopped at the intersection of Route 5A and Hudson Road and they turned down Hudson Road, Sergeant Annis said.

They met Mr. Ladouceur about a mile down the road, he said.

Sergeant Annis said the woman said the men talked about the incident during the drive. He said the woman thought the incident involved drugs, “but she was not sure if they were attempting to steal drugs or what they were doing.” The woman told Sergeant Annis that the men said they went through Ms. Morin’s house,but didn’t find anything.

Sergeant Annis said the woman knew the truck did not belong to Mr. Ladouceur, but didn’t know from whom he borrowed it. She said she was let off in Newport near the Vermont Teddy Bear factory.

Sergeant Annis said Mr. Ladouceur’s father called police early Friday morning, saying he had heard from family members in Connecticut that Mr. Ladouceur had been involved in “something serious” in Vermont. The father thought Mr. Ladouceur and Mr. McNeil might be headed for Connecticut. Later Friday the father arrangedfor Mr. Ladouceur to turn himself in.

Sergeant Annis said he read Mr. Ladouceur his Miranda warning, and Mr. Ladouceur confirmed Ms. Morin’s account.

Also on Friday the owner of the pickup truck contacted police. Sergeant Annis said the man said Mr. Ladouceur had borrowed his truck on October 14. When Mr. Ladouceur returned there was a black man in the truck with him, Sergeant Annis said. The man also reported seeing a .22 caliber revolver and a 20 gauge shotgun in the truck, he said.

Sergeant Annis said the man told him that Mr. Ladouceur did not return the truck at the time he promised, 10:30 a.m., but showed up around 3:30 or 4 p.m. with a woman in the truck.

He told police that he dropped the woman off near the teddy bear factory.

Police searched the truck and found a knife belonging to the truck’s owner and Mr. Ladouceur’s wallet.

Mr. Ladouceur’s sister spoke with police and told them her brother is friends with a Deontae from Putnam, Connecticut, Sergeant Annis said.

Trooper David Robillard spoke with police in that town, who said they knew both Mr. Ladouceur and Mr. McNeil.

Ms. Morin picked photographs of both men out of a photo lineup as her assailants, Sergeant Annis said. The woman who rode in the truck with the two men also picked out Mr. McNeil’s picture as being D Rock, he said.