Another arrest made in connection to shooting


A woman whose home was riddled with bullets in what police have characterized as a drug-related shooting was arrested last week in connection with a robbery that authorities believe may have fueled the early morning violence.

Jessica L. Lussier, 34, who lived in a home at Lot 29 in the Whitehall Mobile Home Park, and Angela Lawrence, 34, of Pittsford, Vt., were charged last week with first-degree robbery for their part in an April 12 holdup at the Hampton Motel.

The pair is accused of robbing, at gun point, two women who were staying in the hotel room.

Later that same day, acquaintances of the two women who were robbed drove to Whitehall from Connecticut and opened fire on Lussier’s home.

No one was hurt in the shooting, but 10 shots passed through the home and struck a neighboring home at Lot 30. The bullets narrowly missed people, including children, who were asleep in both homes.

A day later, two men were arrested in connection with the shooting. Jose Febus, 40, and Francisco Gonzalez, 23, both of Hartford, Connecticut, were charged with attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a murder, reckless endangerment, criminal use of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance.

A third man, Robert Wescott, 19, of Whitehall, was arrested last month and charged with conspiracy and criminal facilitation, both felonies. Police allege Wescott drove the two men to the mobile home park.

Police believe the shooting suspects have ties to street gangs and that they and the robbery victims were in the region to sell drugs. One of the victims, Brendaliz Febus, 21, was arrested on the same day as the shooting suspects and has been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

Febus is the daughter of shooting suspect Jose Febus.

Authorities think the robbery and the subsequent shooting were part of a feud with two rival drug dealers from New York City that Lussier and her sister, Nichole Lussier, 33, were allowing to say at their home.

Nichole Lussier was arrested in Fort Ann on May 23 and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance after she was found with cocaine.

Police are still looking for the New York City men who are believed to have ties to a rival street gang.

As of last week, all the suspects were being held in Washington County Correctional Facility.