A version of this story appeared in the Caledonian Record
By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First
RUTLAND — Two Springfield, Mass. area men are due in Vermont Superior Court on this afternoon to face charges in connection with a fatal shooting in Rutland City over the weekend.
Dylin Wainscott, 28, of Westfield, Mass is facing a felony charge of first-degree murder and possession of a narcotic, authorities said.
Precious Okorie, 31, of Springfield, Mass. is facing charges of being an accessory before the fact and conspiracy to commit murder, they said.
Christopher Hale, 32, of Rutland was killed in the shooting, according to Rutland City Police Commander Charles Whitehead.
Hale was known to police in the Rutland area and reportedly was shot on a porch of an Elm Street home on the city’s westside shortly after 7 p.m. Friday.
The shooting may be the latest in the ongoing connection of illegal activities — drugs and/or guns — flowing between Rutland and Springfield, Mass. area, officials said.
Wainscott was arrested in June 2017 as part of a seizure of nearly 1,000 bags of heroin in Westfield, Mass., police in his hometown reported at the time. The outcome of that criminal case could not be determined over the weekend.
The shooting was reported at 7:07 p.m. and Hale was pronounced dead after his arrival at the Rutland Regional Medical Center, police said.
A state judge ordered both defendants held without bail at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland. The jail listed Okorie as 31 years-old, while City Police said he is 38.
Rutland Police offered few details about the homicide.
Gunshots were reported on Elm Street near Grant Avenue shortly after 7 p.m., police said.
Responding officers confirmed the shooting and that one person had received suspected multiple gunshot wounds, police said in a preliminary news release.
Rutland City Police and members of the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations arrested the two suspects at 10:15 p.m., about three hours after the shooting.
Police impounded two vehicles, including one that was stopped near Walmart after the shooting. It was unclear if search warrants had been authorized by a judge for the vehicles during the weekend.
Rutland County State’s Attorney Ian Sullivan and the Rutland office of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations are working closely with city police.
The Vermont State Police Crime Scene Search Team, which had been called to a double homicide in Montpelier earlier on Friday, also was asked to assist by combing the homicide site in Rutland.
Okorie also is known to police in multiple New England states. In a recent case, he was arrested in South Windsor, Conn. for reportedly breaking into a home in an attempt to collect rent to which he was not entitled, according to police in December 2023.
Okorie was charged with two counts of risk of injury to a child, first-degree burglary, second-degree criminal trespass, criminal attempt to commit second-degree larceny, third-degree identity theft, criminal impersonation, second-degree forgery and criminal
misrepresentation, police said. He was released after posting $100,000 bond, according to news accounts.
Okorie also has two convictions from 2016 in Cheshire County, N.H. for charges of being an accomplice to theft by deception and for possession of false identification, according to the Keene Sentinel newspaper.
Rutland Police said in its initial news release they believed the killing was an isolated, targeted incident and thought there was no threat to the public. Police did not say the basis of those beliefs.
Anybody with information about the homicide is asked to call Rutland City Police at (802) 773-1816. Detective Cpl. Adam Lucia is heading the investigation, police said.