A bus ride, a handgun, a firing range and charges

The mother of shooting victim Darryl Montague peered out a window of her home Monday afternoon after hearing only silence when she called out that lunch was ready.

Montague, 48, of Westford, had been teaching a firearms safety lesson to a woman that morning, so Montague's mother assumed the two had gone outside to the shooting range across the street, a court affidavit states.

What greeted the mother was the grim sight of her son lying on the ground on the side of their dirt street, Pettingill Road, in Westford. She left the house to inspect further, and saw that her son was covered in blood.

The firearms student was nowhere to be found. She would be identified later, after her arrest on charges of attempted murder, as Veronica Lewis, 31, or Worcester. Law enforcement says she shot Montague three times.

Immediately after the shooting, the woman fled on foot, "walking with a purpose" down Vermont 128 and across a nearby field, several witnesses said. Police did not say how she got back to Montpelier, but investigators learned she called a representative at the Hundred Acre Homestead in Worcester for a ride from the Montpelier library.

She was apprehended by the Vermont State Police later Monday evening as she rode into the driveway at the homestead, a Vermont-licensed therapeutic community residence where she lives, Detective Sgt. Michael Kamerling wrote in a court affidavit.

Prosecutors have accused Lewis in the shooting, saying the encounter was premeditated.

Tuesday, Lewis stood in court, where she spoke briefly and quietly with her court-appointed attorney. She pleaded not guilty to a charge of attempted first-degree murder during the five-minute arraignment.

Police say Lewis shot Montague three times — twice in the face and once in the abdomen — shortly before 1 p.m. Monday.

Montague remained in critical condition as of 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

If convicted, Lewis faces a sentence of 35 years to life in prison.

Defense lawyer Sandra Lee challenged during the arraignment whether prosecutors could demonstrate the shooting was premeditated. T.J. Donovan, Chittenden County state's attorney, countered that the three gunshots show Lewis thought ahead of time about the shooting, as does her carrying a ball peen hammer to the firing range in her backpack.

The judge agreed with prosecutors. He ordered Lewis jailed without bail pending future court hearings.

"The planning for the trip, the presence in the defendant's bag of a ball peen hammer, which certainly supported the inference of an intent to do something," Judge Sam Hoar said. "A ball peen hammer is not something one normally takes to a meeting with a shooting instructor, unless one has some other purpose."

Three shots instead of just one added to the premeditation evidence, Hoar said.

A 'friendly woman'

Montague had given a day-long lesson Friday to Lewis about how to use a rifle safely, a police affidavit states. Other than Friday's and Monday's lessons, Chittenden County prosecutor Donovan said there was no evidence as of Tuesday the two knew each other.

The case remains under investigation, Donovan said.

Darryl Montague owns and operates Vermont Target Sports out of his home at 173 Pettingill Road, outside of which he was found wounded.

Montague planned to meet Lewis at the Amtrak station in Essex Junction on Monday morning so he could give her a ride to her lesson. Lewis had no vehicle, Detective Kamerling of the state police wrote.

The victim's mother, Annie Montague, told police that on both days her son and Lewis met, Lewis had first received a lesson on firearms safety in the basement of the home, Kamerling's affidavit states.

"Annie Montague described Lewis as a friendly woman," Kamerling wrote, adding that Annie Montague made the two lunch on Friday and Monday during the lessons.

The victim's wife, Laurie Montague, told police her husband "was very positive" about his interactions with Lewis.

"He told her that Veronica was looking for a better understanding of how guns worked," Kamerling wrote.

Laurie Montague also told police she had never met Lewis, and it made her feel "uneasy" that her husband had been picking up Lewis at the bus station.

Lewis previously lived in New York City, where she has a "lengthy" criminal record, prosecutor Donovan said. She began living at the Hundred Acre Homestead in January.

Lewis is subject to an order out of New York that prevents her from possessing or purchasing a firearm, court records show. State's Attorney Donovan said it is unclear whether the protective order leaves room for Lewis to go to a firing range and shoot another person's gun.

"It is unclear whether Ms. Lewis disclosed her criminal convictions, which made her a federally prohibited person from possessing a firearm," Donovan said. "My quick analysis is that if she's prohibited, she shouldn't have been at the range. We don't know if she disclosed that to the victim. We don't know what procedures are in place for asking those questions."

Hundred Acre Homestead

The Hundred Acre Homestead facility is described on its website as a "Vermont licensed therapeutic community residence ... for people who are challenged with mental illness or struggling with life's emotional stress."

Several of the criminal cases on Lewis' record were dismissed "due to mental incapacity," court papers state.

Deborah Betts, director of the Hundred Acre Homestead, told police that Lewis had inquired three times during her first month at the facility about wanting to go target shooting "because that was a way for her to deal with aggression," court papers state. Betts said she told Lewis at the time the facility did not support that activity. Lewis has not asked about it since, to Betts' knowledge, according to Detective Kamerling's account.

The day of the shooting, Betts said she had given Lewis a ride to the bus station because Lewis said she had a job interview at the Five Guys burger restaurant in Burlington, Kamerling wrote. Five Guys told investigators no interviews occurred Monday.

Representatives of the Hundred Acre Homestead did not return calls Tuesday requesting general information about the facility, including whether residents need permission to leave. The homestead's website states that it is a member of the American Residential Treatment Association.

Frank Reed, deputy commissioner of the Vermont Department of Mental Health, said the homestead is a private facility but is licensed as a residential facility by the state's Department of Disabilities, Aging and Independent Living. Representatives at DAIL could not be reached shortly after 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The shooting

Minutes after Darryl Montague was found lying on the edge of the roadway near his home by his mother, the Vermont State Police and Essex police, fire department and rescue responded to the scene.

Initially, it was thought Montague might have been struck by a vehicle, but rescue personnel discovered Montague was suffering from what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the torso. Additional treatment at the hospital uncovered other gunshot injuries to the victim's jaw region and left cheek.

Kamerling, the state police detective, stated in his affidavit that there appeared to be a large amount of blood on the ground where Montague had been found. A gun had been found in a holster around the victim's waist with live ammunition in the magazine, but nothing in the chamber.

Three gun cases also were found at the scene, two with firearms inside and a third that was empty, the affidavit states.

Investigators took Lewis to the Vermont State Police barracks for processing before she was jailed pending arraignment. Investigators seized her boots, which appeared to have red-brown stains.

Once Lewis was in the holding cell, Lt. James Whitcomb watched as she removed six loaded .22-caliber cartridges from a pants pockets and placed them into a toilet paper holder, the affidavit states.

A Ruger six-shot .22-caliber revolver, loaded and with the hammer cocked, was found in Lewis' backpack after police obtained a search warrant. The cylinder showed that three rounds had been fired, and three others were live, the affidavit states. Also found in Lewis' backpack were a white sheet of paper with handwritten information about the meeting with the victim, a CCTA bus map and guide, and a large wood-handled ball peen hammer.

Prosecutor Donovan expressed relief that Lewis was taken into custody before anyone else was hurt.

"We're just glad that nothing else happened here," Donovan said. "The Vermont State Police did an excellent job in protecting the citizens of Chittenden County and Washington County."

This story was first posted online on June 30, 2015. Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LizMurraySMC.

Information sought

Those with information on the shooting or who saw Veronica Lewis walking on Vermont 128 in Westford or Essex on Monday are asked to call the Vermont State Police at 878-7111.