Cops: Shooter emptied gun, reloaded in road-rage attack

Elizabeth Murray | Burlington (Vt.) Free Press

ST. ALBANS, Vt. — Family members and friends of Anna Alger silently filed into a courtroom here, consoling each other as they waited to see the man who was accused of taking Alger's life the night before.

Police escorted Matthew Webster, 30, of Swanton, Vt., into the packed Vermont Superior Court room where he pleaded not guilty Thursday to shooting and killing Alger, 31, of Highgate, Vt., after a confrontation in this city about 30 miles south of the Canadian border that police say was related to road rage.

Webster and Alger did not know each other, police said.

Webster was charged with second-degree murder in connection with the slaying, a rare display of fatal violence on this state's roadways. If convicted, Webster would face 20 years to life in prison.

Webster, who has a previous conviction for a driving-related offense, was ordered held without bail at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton, about eight miles north.

"This was an act of extreme violence," said John Lavoie, deputy Franklin County state's attorney. "This was a random act."

Alger had been shot six times, the prosecutor said — drawing a gasp from the spectators in the courtroom — with Webster basically "emptying the gun into her." The suspect was found with two firearms, a Ruger 9 mm semiautomatic handgun and a Keltec .380 pistol, along with three bullet magazines, including the emptied one, and five loose bullets, according to court papers.

Wednesday's chain of events began with a dispute between Webster and his wife, then escalated after Webster ran a red light and nearly collided with Alger's car. Alger pursued and then confronted Webster, who responded by killing her on the side of in St. Albans, population 7,000, said Lt. Ron Hoague of St. Albans police.

A video shot by witness Kyle Gagne and shared with the Burlington Free Press showed police holding down a man and later taking him to a cruiser. A voice can be heard talking about "slowing down" and saying he "was sorry."

The shooting

Webster was driving home Wednesday afternoon after breaking up with a woman with whom he had been having an affair, his wife told police. She had driven after him to ensure he went through with the breakup.

Webster and his wife stopped at a gas station where they had an argument but then agreed to go home and talk, according to interviews with both Webster and his wife detailed in a sworn statement to police.

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Webster told police he had a gun in his hand as he was driving and intended to kill himself. Webster "began squeezing the trigger but could not do it," he told police.

On his way home, Webster ran a red light and Alger's car nearly struck him. His wife saw him run the light and called to tell him he had done so, court documents stated.

After Webster got the call, he pulled over, realizing he was in no condition to drive. He got out of the car but didn't realize he still had the gun in his hand, according to court papers.

Alger had followed him, and she got out of the car to ask Webster why he cut her off.

With his wife watching, Webster told investigators that Alger charged "like a six-point buck coming over a hill," another officer wrote in an affidavit.

Webster, who still had the pistol in his hand, shot Alger because he thought that would stop her, he told police later. But she kept coming, and he emptied the clip.

Alger was shot in the head and chest, court papers stated.

Kylie Charbonneau of St. Albans, who was working at Domino's Pizza across the street, heard six or seven gunshots and ran outside to the front of the store.

Raw video: Fatal road-rage shooting in Vermont Anna Alger, 31, was fatally shot Sept. 25, 2013, in an apparent road-rage incident in St. Albans, Vt., police said. Matthew Webster, 30, of Swanton, Vt., who had two guns in his car, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

"I actually heard the squealing of the tires, I heard screaming, and I heard multiple gunshots," Charbonneau recalled Thursday. "When I actually walked to the door to see what that noise was — because I knew it wasn't firecrackers, I just knew it — I looked outside, and I saw the guy walking from his black car."

Alger's fiance was in her car at the time of the confrontation, and Webster told police he might have pointed the pistol at the male passenger in Alger's car before reloading.

Webster then pointed the gun at his own head and squeezed the trigger, but the handgun did not fire. Webster's wife tried to take the weapons away from him, then police arrived and arrested Webster, court papers stated.

"He saw the cops coming and he willingly emptied out his pockets and laid there on the ground and let them arrest him, and he wasn't fighting or anything," Charbonneau said. "It was pretty scary.

"He was screaming, 'I'm sorry,' " Charbonneau said. "He was saying how he was trying to kill himself and the trigger wouldn't go off, and how that woman should have left him alone."

The aftermath

In a Facebook post sharing his video of Webster's arrest, Kyle Gagne wrote: "I was sitting there the whole time and never realized he had a gun on his lap till I saw him grab it and toss it on the ground."

A comment on the Facebook video post from a user named Jill Marie Longley read:

I saw the man and the woman standing outside of their cars and they seemed to be arguing. He started toward her and she put her hands up and said something along the lines of 'No, don't.' I had been driving by at this time, and when I went past, I heard a shot.

When I looked back she was on the ground and he had taken off. So extremely scary, especially with my two kids in the car.

Investigators found 11 empty 9 mm shell cases on the road near Alger's body. Alger was taken to a hospital but died from her wounds.

Webster's wife told police that Webster is being treated for depression and chronic anxiety among "so many other things," court papers state. Webster admitted abusing prescription medication including oxycodone and methadone in the past and Klonopin, a medicine to treat anxiety, on Wednesday morning.

Possible side-effects of Klonopin include mood or behavior changes, depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, medical experts say.

A year ago, the Vermont State Police accused Webster of negligent operation following a car wreck in Swanton. Webster tried to pass a line of three cars, overtaking two but crashing into the third. No one was injured in the Sept. 19, 2012, incident.

Webster pleaded guilty in February to misdemeanor careless and negligent operation and was sentenced to serve two to three days in jail with a recommendation for work crew, according to records on file at the St. Albans courthouse.

Killings related to anger on Vermont's highways are rare. One such slaying occurred in 1990, when James Dewey Darrow of Waitsfield threw a tire iron through the windshield of a Chevette and hit Rob Landry of Burlington, who died of head injuries. Darrow was sentenced in 1991 to four to 15 years in prison for manslaughter.

Webster's next court hearing has yet to be scheduled. Following Thursday's arraignment, Alger's family declined to comment.

Gary Leroux, the human resources manager at Peerless Clothing International where Alger worked, said employees who knew her and who work with her siblings at the factory are in mourning.

"We're going to do everything we can for the family," Leroux said. "It's a very quiet, sad day for everyone."