Shooting probe leads to more charges

Police said Thursday they arrested two more people in connection with a shooting earlier this month in downtown Springfield, and filed a new charge against the accused shooter for allegedly trying to tamper with a witness while behind bars.
http://rutlandherald.com/article/20140627/NEWS02/706279900

Photo by Len Emery Alexander Jillson-Corbosiero Published June 27, 2014 in the Rutland Herald Shooting probe leads to more charges By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT SPRINGFIELD — Police said Thursday they arrested two more people in connection with a shooting earlier this month in downtown Springfield, and filed a new charge against the accused shooter for allegedly trying to tamper with a witness while behind bars. Brandon Adams-Smith, 16, of Chester, and Alexander Jillson-Corbosiero, 18, of Springfield, were each ordered held overnight at the Springfield prison for lack of $10,000 bail pending arraignments today in White River Junction criminal court, according to Vermont State Police. Adams-Smith was arrested at his home while Jillson-Corbosiero was taken into custody as he walked on Main Street in Springfield, police said. Police said they have identified Adams-Smith as the third member of the trio who travelled June 11 to a Summer Street apartment house in Springfield to confront Joseph “Black” Atkinson, 19, about rumors Atkinson was allegedly spreading that Adams-Smith had been cheating people in drug deals. Two former New Jersey residents, Leon Jiggetts and Jabbar Chandler, are already in jail awaiting trial on numerous felony charges related to the shooting. Police say Jiggetts was the person who shot Atkinson before a fight broke out. Adams-Smith is facing felony charges of burglary and aggravated assault as well as a misdemeanor count of providing false information, police said. Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Richard Holden, who is leading the investigation into the shooting, said Thursday the charges against Adams-Smith are “directly related to his involvement” in the events inside the apartment where the shooting took place. Jillson-Corbosiero faces felony charges of larceny, acting as an accessory after the fact, and aiding in the commission of a felony, according to police. More details about the charges against Adams-Smith and Jillson-Corbosiero will be available today once they are arraigned and police affidavits become public. Holden said over the weekend state police detectives also visited Jiggetts at the Springfield prison where he is being held without bail pending his trial on second-degree murder and other charges. Detectives issued Jiggetts a new citation to answer another felony charge — obstruction of justice. Holden said that while behind bars Jiggetts allegedly tried to contact one of his co-defendants from the shooting case “in an attempt to change the co-defendant’s testimony” related to the shooting. Police did not reveal the name of the co-defendant Thursday. Jiggetts will be arraigned July 22 on the latest charge against him. Atkinson, the victim in the shooting, has been transferred to a medical facility near his hometown of Union City, N.J., where he continues to recuperate from a gunshot wound to his abdomen. Holden said that last week, shortly before Atkinson returned to New Jersey, detectives issued him citations requiring him to return to Vermont in August to be arraigned for felony possession of heroin and misdemeanor possession of cocaine. The drugs were discovered on Atkinson after the shooting, police said. The investigation into the shooting remains “open and active,” according to police.