Local teens arrested in connection to shooting

One teen claims gang membership, another provided the gun. Both have been charged with felonies related to a June 11 shooting in Springfield.
http://eagletimes.villagesoup.com/p/local-teens-arrested-in-connection-to-shooting/1204992

Local teens arrested in connection to shooting One teen claims gang membership, another provided the gun By Chris Garofolo | Jun 28, 2014 Courtesy of: Eric Francis/Rutland Herald From left: Alexander Jillson-Corbosiero, 18, of Springfield, was arraigned Friday in White River Junction. Sixteen-year-old Brandon Adams-Smith (right) stood at the defense table during his arraignment. Both were charged with felonies related to a June 11 shooting in Springfield. WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A Vermont teenager who identified himself as a member of the Satan's Disciples gang is facing two felony charges stemming from the Springfield shooting earlier this month. Brandon Adams-Smith, 16, of Chester, pleaded not guilty to burglary and aggravated assault with a weapon, both felonies, and providing false information to law enforcement and was released Friday without bail to the care of his aunt. He was arrested a day earlier for his involvement in a June 11 shooting in a Summer Street apartment where three individuals were hospitalized. Another teenage suspect, 18-year-old Springfield resident Alexander Jillson-Corbosiero, was also released without any set bail. He is facing three felony charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and as an accessory after the fact for his role in the June 11 incident. David Cahill, deputy state’s attorney for Windsor County, said Adams-Smith had fallen through the cracks of the system and had been couch surfing on-and-off since he was 12-years-old. Recently, the teenager had become involved deep "with some bad people,” he said. “He now reports himself as being a gang member [to a social worker in an interview] ... he said he was a member of the Satan's Disciples gang, which loosely affiliates with the Bloods,” Cahill added. “The gang he’s a member of has ties to New Jersey and to the Chicago area ... Honestly more than anything else, the state fears for Brandon’s safety.” Adams-Smith sat quietly in a White River Junction courtroom wearing a white shirt and jeans. Family and friends sat in the first row just a few feet behind him. Cahill argued for $10,000 bail in part for Adams-Smith’s own safety, but Judge Karen Carroll released Adams-Smith with the condition he does not leave the Route 10 property of his aunt, Kimberlee Knight of Chester, except for medical or legal appointments. Knight said she would report any of his violations to law enforcement and would welcome social workers to check-in on him, but the state said there are concerns that she would be not a reliable source. His family told the court Adams-Smith had been living in the Chester residence since the incident. “I can promise you he’s going to be OK there,” Knight said. Jillson-Corbosiero appeared minutes after Adams-Smith in the courtroom wearing a Red Hook Brewery T-Shirt and shorts, some of his friends were with him at the time of his release. In his court paperwork, Jillson-Corbosiero lists himself as homeless; he has a similar 24-hour curfew at his family’s Litchfield Street address in Springfield. There was another suspect, a 14-year-old female, taken into custody at the Springfield Shopping Plaza Thursday afternoon on possible charges related to the shooting. Her identity was not released by troopers and prosecutors do not expect her to face charges in criminal court. According to court documents, Adams-Smith entered apartment No. 4 at 47 Summer St. in Springfield around 3:30 p.m. June 11 with 26-year-old Leon Jiggetts, of Newark, New Jersey, and 33-year-old Jabbar Chandler, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, to confront Joseph Atkinson about him spreading rumors of the others stealing his heroin. The 19-year-old Atkinson was shot in the torso by Jiggetts and two tenants in the apartment were injured. “Jiggetts then told [Adams-Smith] to hit Atkinson with the bat. Adams-Smith knew Atkinson was already shot, but struck him in the thigh with the bat anyway,” said Detective Sgt. Richard Holden with the Vermont State Police in an affidavit. The baseball bat was recovered by troopers. The firearm used by Jiggetts — a .45 caliber handgun — in the shooting was provided by Jillson-Corbosiero, who stole it from his stepfather, according to police records. “Corbosiero advised that Chandler told him they were going into Atkinson’s residence no matter what. He advised he then took his stepfather’s .45 caliber from his mother’s bedroom and then gave it to them,” Holden said. “Corbosiero advised that after [he] retrieved the gun, Chandler gave him the keys to his sister’s car and told him to drive around and wait for his phone call.” Jillson-Corbosiero, who has aggravated assault charges pending from an unrelated case, admitted to police he sold 1,000 bags of heroin in the past week for Chandler. “[He] also admitted that he knew the heroin he sold for Chandler was stolen from Atkinson, because Atkinson later confronted him after he sold it,” Holden wrote. A backpack recovered by police detectives contained two guns involved in the shooting, as well as a brown apron with a Dunkin' Donuts tag with Jillson-Corbosiero’s name on it, as well as multiple firearm accessories. State police say Chandler’s sister had tossed the bag off a secluded road after her brother asked her to get rid of it.