North Haverhill — A 22-year-old Lebanon man pleaded not guilty on Monday to second-degree assault with a deadly weapon in connection with a Friday night shooting near the Dartmouth Green that sent an 18-year-old Providence College student to the hospital with a gunshot wound to his lower back.
Gage Young, of Oak Ridge Road, also entered not guilty pleas to felony counts of reckless conduct and falsifying physical evidence stemming from the shooting on School Street and subsequent police chase on Route 10 that ended when the car in which Young was a passenger crashed on Oak Ridge Road in Lebanon.
Young was held without bail following his Monday arraignment in Grafton Superior Court.
The victim, whose name is redacted in court documents, was taken to Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center after the shooting. A hospital spokesman said he couldn’t release an updated condition for the victim, who was shot while visiting a friend, a Dartmouth College freshman.
Defense attorney Jamie Brooks didn’t contest Young’s bail in court, but said his client reserves the right to request a bail hearing down the road.
Several of Young’s family members attended the hearing, including his father, David Young, who is a former Lebanon police officer.
They all declined to comment.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys didn’t shed any light on how the night unfolded during Young’s arraignment, but two police affidavits filed in the North Haverhill courthouse provide some insight, including that Young and the driver allegedly fired gunshots from the car in several spots that night.
Although Young declined to speak with police after his arrest, the teen who was driving the vehicle told officers that Young fired a single shot toward a group of men on School Street.
The 17-year-old driver’s name also is redacted in the court documents, but police previously identified him as Lebanon resident Hector Correa.
One of the affidavits said Correa “stated Young said he was just going to scare the group and he shot once ... Young then made a comment that he thinks he may have hit one of the people.”
The pair then drove toward West Lebanon, Correa, a Lebanon High School student, told police; the two affidavits contain similar information and were written by Lebanon police Sgt. Jeffrey Perkins and Hanover police Sgt. Daniel Fowler III.
Among the group walking on School Street was the victim, who was visiting Dartmouth student Scott Crawshaw along with Samuel Hawkins and Christopher Partridge.
Crawshaw, Hawkins and Partridge all appear to have graduated in the spring from Milton Academy, which is just south of Boston, according to the prep school’s website.
Crawshaw, the Dartmouth student, declined to comment on Monday.
After the shooting, the former classmates called police and told them they saw a dark gray or black sedan driving south on School Street at the time of the incident.
Correa told police that he and Young both fired a handgun that night and did so in three different spots between Hanover and West Lebanon.
According to Correa, he and Young fired the handgun in the area of Dartmouth Printing off Lyme Road before Young fired the gun on both School Street and in the parking lot of Allard’s Furniture off Route 10, the Lebanon police affidavit said.
The affidavit isn’t clear on just how many shots were fired in each location or what time they were fired. The victim was struck by a 9 mm bullet around 9:45 p.m., and Young and Correa were taken into custody around 11:15 p.m.
Correa faces charges in connection with the incident, but he hasn’t yet appeared in court.
Several people called police dispatch and reported hearing gunshots on Friday night, and Dartmouth College and area businesses enacted a shelter-in-place order for nearly three hours.
After the victim was shot, Correa drove south on Route 10 and stopped in the parking lot of Allard’s Furniture in West Lebanon for a bathroom break, Correa told police.
While there, Young allegedly tried to “clear” the gun, which had jammed, and fired it into the air before the pair left and drove north on Route 10.
Acting in response to a “be-on-the-lookout” description of the suspects’ vehicle and reports of several gunshots in the West Lebanon area, a police officer spotted the car with Young and Correa.
Correa briefly turned into the Boston Lot Lake parking area before turning back onto Route 10 and driving north, engaging police in a chase that reached speeds of nearly 90 mph. Correa then turned onto Oak Ridge Road and crashed, according to the affidavits.
Officers took the men into custody; while doing so, they found a 9 mm Taurus G2C handgun within 15-20 feet of the front passenger window of the pair’s Ford Fusion. Correa told police Young threw the gun out the window, according to the affidavits.
When officers located the firearm, it had a round loaded into the chamber, according to the Hanover police affidavit. Hanover police officer Ryan Kennett also found “what he believed were” other firearms and a hunting bow inside the vehicle, according to that affidavit.
The bullet doctors removed from the victim’s body was consistent with a shot from a 9 mm gun, the Lebanon affidavit said.
Correa first told police a different version of events, saying he found the gun in the woods and eluded police because he had been drinking and didn’t have a license. Police pressed Correa on his version of events, and Correa told police the gun belonged to Young, the affidavits said.
Grafton County State’s Attorney Lara Saffo said the victim’s name was redacted in court paperwork to “protect his privacy.” Hanover police said on Saturday they had sought a court order to seal the name.
In response to requests from the Valley News for a legal rationale in redacting the victim’s name, Saffo on Monday night said she would file an amended complaint today revealing the victim’s name.
The date of Young’s next court hearing wasn’t immediately available. Correa faces a misdemeanor charge of disobeying a police officer and will appear on Dec. 17 in Lebanon District Court.
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com .
Correction
Scott Crawshaw is a Dartmouth College freshman. His first name was inadvertently omitted in an earlier version of this story.