Burrillville police make arrests in string of BB gun incidents

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BURRILLVILLE, R.I. (WLNE) – Burrillville police say three teenage boys are behind the dozens of recent BB gun incidents that spanned three different states.

Two of the boys are juveniles, aged 14 and 15. Police identified the other as 18-year-old Drew Fafard. Two of the suspects attend Burrillville High School, according to police.

For a week straight, at the end of November, people in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts woke up to their car or home windows vandalized. The damage, police said, was caused by a BB gun.

“Whether it was a prank, or they were just out to be destructive, it wasn’t a nice thing to do,” said Lincoln resident Desarae Smith-Domenech.

Police say one woman was almost hit by a projectile while standing in her home.

The communities the teens allegedly targeted include Burrillville, Glocester, Lincoln, North Smithfield and Cumberland, as well as Uxbridge, Douglas and Northbridge, Massachusetts.  And in Connecticut, the communities of Brooklyn, Woodstock and Plainfield.

ABC 6 also found cars that had been hit in Woonsocket.

A teen boy who lives at one of the homes targeted in Lincoln tells ABC 6, he makes sure to use his own BB gun safely.

“I have a BB gun right upstairs,” said Devyn Alves. “My mom always told me, ‘Don’t shoot it at the cars, don’t do anything like that, cause that’s really disrespectful. Especially if it comes to something like this.”

‘This,’ referring to his neighbor’s handicap van that had its window shot out by the vandals last week. It’ll likely cost the family almost $1000 to repair.

“We had to put tape on the window!” Jasmine Berrios said about her van.

All three boys were charged with Committing a Drive-by Shooting, Discharging a Firearm from a Motor Vehicle, Conspiracy, and Vandalism.

The 14-year-old was released to the custody of  his parents.

The 15-year-old is being held at the Rhode Island Training School pending a hearing in Family Court.

Fafard was arraigned Friday. His bail was set at $20,000 with surety.

All three will be charged in each municipality separately.

©WLNE-TV/ABC6 2019