Man arrested in Amesbury shooting yet to be arraigned
Feb. 18—AMESBURY — A New Hampshire man arrested last month in that state for allegedly shooting a local man after robbing his Mill Street apartment in November has yet to be arraigned, according to local police.
Robert Doucette, 43, was captured in early January after Amesbury police issued a warrant for his arrest. A second man believed to be involved with the shooting, John Conway of Boston, was arrested in mid-December and arraigned in Newburyport District Court.
But according to local police, Doucette refused extradition to Massachusetts and remains in a Concord, New Hampshire, prison cell. To get Doucette in Massachusetts, authorities will need to obtain a governor's warrant, a signed and sealed order by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu authorizing police or any peace officer to transport Doucette across state lines.
Police say Doucette shot Robert Coote in the knee shortly after he and Conway broke into the man's apartment and stole a floor safe.
Doucette's capture by police in New Hampshire came after a state police detective received an anonymous call linking him to the crime. The trooper then called local police, according to court records.
Conway, 51, of Dorchester is charged with aggravated breaking and entering/person in fear, aggravated assault and battery with serious boldly injury, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, mayhem, larceny from a building, armed robbery and home invasion.
He remains held without bail after a judge deemed him too dangerous to be afforded bail while awaiting trial. He is due back in court on March 29 for a status hearing.
Doucette and Conway kicked in the door of Coote's apartment on Nov. 15 after staking it out from their rented car, according to court records.
Police say Doucette shot Coote, a convicted drug dealer, in the right knee before they made off with a floor safe in the apartment. Coote was transported to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, where he was treated and released days later.
They then fled on foot and were seen by a neighbor getting into a Toyota sedan and driving away. That car was recorded by a video camera as it drove around the Mill Street boarding house and parked in a nearby lot just prior to the home invasion. While in the apartment, Amesbury police found in plain sight a large amount of marijuana and a digital scale with white powder on it, according to Officer Scott Peters' report.
The property manager told police the two men's arrival and departure were caught on video camera and he gave investigators a copy of the footage.
At the hospital, Coote told Sgt. David Noyes he did not know the two men who broke into his apartment armed with handguns. As they were leaving the apartment, Doucette shot Coote in the knee after the two had words, Detective Raymond Landry wrote in his report.
Later that day, Landry posted the video on a statewide police network, looking for help in identifying the two gunmen.
Within a few days, a Boston Police Department officer told Landry that one of the men was Conway and that she had arrested him in 2015 for soliciting a prostitute and that he was known as a "B&E guy who does drug rips," Landry wrote in his report.
Another Boston police officer confirmed Conway was one of the men in the video.
Landry also received word from an anonymous caller that the other man in the video was Doucette and that he bragged to someone that "he shot the kid in the leg twice, got drugs, money and a safe," according to the detective's report.
Dave Rogers is a reporter with the Daily News of Newburyport. Email him at: drogers@newburyportnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @drogers41008.
