Police use flash-bang grenades
By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First
CONVENTRY – Three Springfield, Mass. teen-agers are facing felony charges of both aggravated assault and assault and robbery with bodily injury after they reportedly attacked two Northeast Kingdom residents on Sunday, Vermont State Police said.
Randall Davis, 19, Mohamed Hussein, 17, and Jadis Arnold, 16, all of Springfield, Mass. were arrested after a massive manhunt along Vermont 14, Spencer Hill Road, Blake Road, Hancock Hill Road, Maple Ridge Road in Coventry, police said.
The three teens are all due in criminal court on Monday after the Orleans County State’s Attorney’s Office decided they should be treated as adults for their dangerous misconduct, state police said.
They were ordered jailed overnight without bail: Davis at the Northern State Correctional Facility in Newport; Hussein and Arnold at the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility in St. Johnsbury, police said.
The injured crime victims were identified as Keith Jacobs, 42, of Coventry and Herbert Jacobs, 72, of North Troy, police said.
State troopers, along with law enforcement officers from Newport Police, Orleans County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office, and the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Warden Division combed the area for more than 3 hours to make the arrests.
State Police Patrol Sgt. Daniel Lynch outlined the following sequence of events:
The state police barracks in Derby received a report of a dispute involving firearms, possible shots fired, and a person who had been injured at a residence on Spencer Hill Road in Coventry about 12:50 p.m.
Upon arrival, troopers encountered the victims, who were suffering from non-life-threatening injuries sustained from an assault including being struck by firearms. While there was evidence of gunshots fired, troopers determined no one had been struck. It was also reported that several of the victims’ firearms had been stolen during this assault.
Simultaneously, information from the public was received that three suspects, armed with several firearms, had fled in the direction of an occupied nearby residence on Blake Road. Law enforcement converged on the area.
Hussein was quickly found in a riverbed and taken into custody by a Game Warden, Newport officers and state police.
Arnold was also located, but refused commands to stop and fled into a wooded area toward Hancock Hill Road. Specialized State Police units including the Tactical Services Unit, Unmanned Arial Systems Unit, and K9 units responded to the area to help with the search. Vermont 14 in the area of the incident was shut down while local residents were directed to shelter in place.
Throughout the afternoon, law enforcement searched for the remaining two suspects and responded to sightings, locating several firearms including loaded semi-automatic rifles and handguns during their search.
After several K9 tracks by both state police and Newport Police and foot pursuits by searching officers, Arnold was taken into custody in the area of Nadeau Park Road.
Davis was taken into custody in the area of Maple Ridge Road without incident and with the assistance of all agencies involved by about 4:30 p.m.
All three wanted suspects were transported to the state police barracks in Derby for processing and ordered held without bail pending court.
Loud flash bangs heard by members of the public were nonlethal devices deployed by troopers in an effort to make arrests. No gunshots were fired, Lynch reported.
The incident is believed to be isolated to the parties involved, and all persons involved have been identified and accounted for, police said.