Gage Young, the 23-year-old West Lebanon man charged with the nonfatal shooting of a visiting Providence College student in the fall of 2018, has been granted release on bail by a Grafton Superior Court judge.
Young had been held at the Grafton County House of Corrections since Nov. 3, 2018. The conditions of his $100,000 bail require that he must remain in New Hampshire with his family, abide by a 7 p.m.-to-8 a.m. curfew and have no contact with the shooting victim or his family, according to the Valley News.
Young is accused of firing a single shot from a passing car on School Street and injuring a non-Dartmouth student who was visiting the College. According to the Valley News, Superior Court Judge Lawrence MacLeod, who issued the order, wrote that although prosecutors have enough evidence to take Young to trial, several witnesses whose “anticipated testimony the court weighed when considering bail previously” can no longer testify. There have also been significant delays in bringing the case to trial.
Strong memories remain on campus from the incident two years ago.
“It was really weird because it was so unexpected,” said Selin Capan ’21. “When I think about Dartmouth and I think about Hanover, I think of it as a very safe place.”
Capan also said that one of the major issues on campus following the shooting was miscommunication about the safety of campus, especially as rumors spread during the night of the incident.
“The flow of information wasn’t good,” Capan said. “The information was very sparse and communication between students made everything more stressful.”
Because Safety and Security and the Hanover Police Department only released information as they learned more details, misinformation and hysteria spread among students between updates. According to Capan, many students attempted to tune into the police radio to remain informed.
“Misinformation was being thrown around a lot on GroupMe,” said Thomas Clark ’22, who said he sat on the floor in his friends darkened McLaughlin dorm room during the shooting.
In an email statement to The Dartmouth, Safety and Security interim director Keysi Montás noted that the College is continuing to strengthen its planning and training efforts so that it can effectively respond and mitigate emergencies in the future.
Clark also said he believes that the College’s new card access policy limiting student access to dorms at night — which was implemented and subsequently changed this past fall — could have been problematic had it been in place at the time of the shooting.
“I was personally a member of Allen House, and I lived in the River,” Clark said. “So, I would’ve had to be let into a dorm, which is really sketchy for someone who lives in McLaughlin to just let someone in when there’s an active shooter on the grounds. I think [the policy] would have just exacerbated the situation.”
Maria Trevino ’23, who read about the event on Twitter, echoed this sentiment.
“If an emergency happened after 9 p.m., I would like to be able to get into any building,” she said.
Despite the strong feelings about the incident, students appear to be supportive of the decision to release Young on bail.
“I’m glad he’s getting the help he needs, and it makes me feel a little bit safer that he’s on a curfew,” Trevino said.
Capan agreed that she was glad Young’s behavior is being regulated.
“I think it’s good that even when they’ve released him there are still some limitations to what he can do,” Capan said. “I guess if they’re controlling his movements this much, it’s not much of a problem in terms of safety, and I would assume that his family would also be keeping a close eye on him.”
