CHELSEA — Police have cited a 32-year-old Chelsea man into court after a property dispute with a neighbor over cut trees near Jenkins Brook Road allegedly prompted him to shoot her computer tablet on Sunday morning.
Timothy LaPlante Jr. and Patricia Campbell, 56, have had a “longstanding property dispute” and around 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, LaPlante allegedly knocked Campbell’s Amazon Fire tablet out of her hand, picked it up, brought it onto his property and shot it several times with a handgun, Vermont State Police Lt. Barbara Kessler said via email.
LaPlante allegedly took the tablet from Campbell because she was taking video of him firing his gun, according to a preliminary investigation, Kessler said.
State Police said LaPlante had cut trees which Campbell thinks are on her property, but he believes are on his. She was shooting at targets on Sunday in response to the tree-cutting, and LaPlante then began firing his gun, police said. That prompted Campbell to begin taking video of her neighbor, Kessler said.
Police ultimately responded to the neighborhood, which is off Route 110, after a citizen complained that both individuals had fired a weapon.
LaPlante is facing disorderly conduct and unlawful mischief charges, according to a Vermont State Police news release.
He is slated to be arraigned in Orange Superior Court in Chelsea on June 26.