WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — An early morning home invasion where one man was shot and another beaten with a pipe may have stemmed from a dispute over living arrangements, according to court documents released Tuesday.

Police are still searching for Calvin Therrien, 40, one of two suspects they believe is responsible for the Monday morning attack at a camper on Christian Street in White River Junction. He’s facing aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and burglary charges for allegedly shooting one man in the shoulder during the home invasion.

The other suspect, Anthony Cormier, 33, who’s accused of using a metal pipe to beat the other victim, was taken into custody shortly after the incident and pleaded not guilty to burglary and aggravated assault charges during a virtual arraignment in Rutland Superior Court Tuesday afternoon.

Superior Court Judge David Fenster ordered Cormier held without bail during the arraignment, adding that there “clearly is evidence of the assault.”

Cormier, who appeared by video from Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Vt., objected to the judge’s order.

“What did I do wrong?” he yelled through tears at the end of the arraignment. “I was scared. I didn’t do anything.”

The charges stem from a home invasion around 2 a.m. Monday at a camper near some woods at 303 Christian St., according to an affidavit written by Hartford Police Officer Thomas Howell.

When police arrived they found 32-year-old Adam Runnals with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and 31-year-old Matthew Shumway bleeding from a cut on his forehead, the affidavit said.

Runnals, who has been living at the camper, told police that he got a knock at the door early that morning and when he opened it, a man whom he identified as Therrien “instantly” lunged into the camper and started firing a gun. One bullet hit Runnals in the shoulder, and he ducked behind a sheet to hide, he told police.

Therrien then turned his attention to Shumway, who was also staying at the camper, according to the affidavit. Shumway told police that while he and Therrien wrestled over the gun, another man — whom police believe to be Cormier — came up behind Shumway and beat him in the head and back with a metal pipe, police wrote.

Runnals said he escaped the camper then and ran down the road to call for help.

Shumway told police that Therrien had come to the camper earlier that day looking for a place to stay, but that Shumway had declined to house him because Therrien had been recently arrested and released from jail, the affidavit said.

“This made Therrien angry and he threatened to return and harm Shumway,” the affidavit said.

Several hours after the call, police found Cormier leaving a hotel in White River Junction and took him in for questioning. Cormier said he helped bail Therrien out of Southern State Correctional Facility early Sunday morning and, to repay him, Therrien had offered to buy Cormier drugs, according to the affidavit.

Cormier told police the men drove to the camper and that Therrien entered before him and fired several shots. Cormier said he hit someone with a pipe but said it was only after he saw the man “coming at them,” according to Howell’s affidavit.

Cormier said he and Therrien fled the camper soon after the fight.

During Cormier’s arraignment Tuesday, Windsor County Deputy State’s Attorney Emily Zukauskas, who argued for holding Cormier without bail, said that Cormier has a lengthy history of arrests, including an arrest for simple assault in June, as well as five felony convictions.

As Cormier listened to Zukauskas’s arguments, he threw his hands back, scoffed and cried. At one point he buried his head in his hands as Zukauskas described his prior arrests.

“That’s not how it happened,” he said near the end of the arraignment. “I’m not denying I was there. But what took place was not what I was aware of.”

Another court date for Cormier has not been set. Police are looking for Therrien and anyone with information on the home invasion or his whereabouts is asked to call police at 802-295-9425.

Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.

]]>