A well-liked woman who has worked at the CVS pharmacy in East Hampton Village for 15 years was arrested last week after she shot her boyfriend in their Flanders home and then fled, leading to a statewide Amber Alert for their 3-year-old daughter.
Southampton Town police said Patchita Tennant, 42, shot Andrew Mitchell, 46, three times in the chest and arm during an argument last Thursday evening at the house they own on Pleasure Drive. Mr. Mitchell told police she had taken their daughter, Vanessa Tennant-Mitchell, with her when she fled, and the alert was issued early Friday. The little girl was found just before 10 a.m. Friday with a relative in Riverhead, and Ms. Tennant turned herself in later that day.
“My client is the victim in this case,” said Austin Manghan, Ms. Tennant’s criminal defense attorney. A Riverhead lawyer who has worked with the Retreat, the domestic violence agency, he said his client had suffered verbal and physical abuse at the hands of Mr. Mitchell for years.
The dramatic situation unfolded when Ms. Tennant, who also goes by Patricia, finished work in East Hampton and picked up her daughter at a babysitter’s. She went to the Riverhead-area home of a sister for a family gathering to celebrate her niece, who is in the Air Force. She decided to spend the night, her lawyer said, but needed more clothes, so she left the child with the family and drove to the house in Flanders.
An argument soon ensued. According to the Suffolk District Attorney’s office, Ms. Tennant accused her boyfriend of cheating, and banged on a door, yelling, “I’m going to kill you!”
Mr. Manghan, however, said Ms. Tennant told him she was trying to avoid Mr. Mitchell, whom she referred to as “Silas.” Early reports that the couple, who have been together for about 15 years, were estranged and living separately were inaccurate, he said.
According to her story, Mr. Mitchell went into their closet and got a handgun out of the safe. Mr. Manghan said the .38-caliber weapon belonged to Mr. Mitchell, not his client, that she had never seen it before that evening, and that she did not even know he had one. Neither has a license for the gun; it is not clear if it is registered.
Mr. Mitchell, screaming, drew the gun on her, according to Mr. Manghan. The two ended up struggling over the gun, he said, and it accidentally went off. He maintained that his client, in shock, got hold of the gun and pulled the trigger. Mr. Manghan said she was “fighting for her life.”
She only knew Mr. Mitchell had been hit when he yelled, “I’m bleeding,” according to her attorney. That was when she dropped the gun, he said. In all, Mr. Mitchell was hit three times, twice in the chest and once in the arm, according to the prosecutors.
Mr. Mitchell, though injured, picked up the handgun as she fled and tried to fire it at her, she told Mr. Manghan, but it was out of bullets. Police recovered it at the scene.
Mr. Mitchell called 911 at 8:22 p.m. He was airlifted to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. His injuries were described as serious but not life-threatening.
Prosecutors conceded, at Ms. Tennant’s arraignment on Saturday, that the toddler was not in the house at the time of the shooting. Ms. Tennant left the Flanders house in her 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe and picked the child up at her sister’s, she told Mr. Manghan. Where they spent the night is still unclear. Police issued the Amber Alert at around 7:30 a.m. Friday, and the child was found, safe, at another relative’s house just before 10 a.m. The Hyundai was found that morning in a parking lot in Middle Island.
Mr. Manghan said he received the Amber Alert and like everyone else was “frightened for the child,” who had allegedly been abducted under circumstances leading police to believe she was “in imminent danger of serious harm and/or death.” He watched as “social media exploded,” he said. “Everybody is picturing this madwoman who shot her boyfriend and ran away with their 3-year-old daughter,” the lawyer said, but that was not the case.
His involvement began after a colleague called to relay a call from a friend asking for help for the woman. Mr. Manghan agreed, and told Southampton Town police to tell him he was involved in the case and that he would bring her in. He said he promised to call if Ms. Tennant gave him any problems.
He found her in Patchogue, sitting in a car with another woman. She was “extremely scared,” he said. As they drove east to police headquarters in Hampton Bays, where members of the media were camped out, she gave him her side of the story and told him of a history of domestic violence.
She was arrested at 12:52 p.m. on Friday and charged with two felonies, first-degree assault and criminal use of a firearm, and held overnight for arraignment in Southampton Town Justice Court. Mr. Manghan said she did not give police any statement.
Prosecutors maintained at her arraignment that by all appearances she was getting ready to go on the run. Surveillance video reportedly shows Ms. Tennant at a CVS (prosecutors did not say which one) purchasing clothes and “a burner cellphone.” Mr. Manghan said she had left her cellphone and clothes behind when she fled the Flanders house.
Ms. Tennant, a native of Jamaica, has worked for CVS for 15 years and has been the pharmacy manager for nine years, Mr. Manghan told the judge. She has a tight-knit family here, including an older son in his 20s. About six women, identified as relatives and co-workers, were in the courtroom to support her.
Justice Barbara Wilson set bail at $250,000 cash or $500,000 bond. Ms. Tennant spent three nights in the county jail in Riverside before her family and friends were able to come up with the bond — a testament, Mr. Manghan said, to how well-liked she is. She was released on Tuesday.
The justice also issued two orders of protection, one for Mr. Mitchell and one for their daughter, meaning that Ms. Tennant must stay away from both of them. Mr. Manghan objected to the protective order covering the child. “Ms. Tennant would be devastated not to be with her,” he protested, but Justice Wilson said the serious nature of the incident and the Amber Alert justified it.
On Tuesday afternoon, Ms. Tennant’s relatives were in Family Court to work out a custody arrangement for the 3-year-old. Mr. Manghan said one of her sisters had the child. Child Protective Services is now involved as well.
Mr. Manghan said Ms. Tennant’s relatives have confirmed to him her history of domestic violence. Both family and co-workers told him they saw bruises and cuts on her body and face. They were unsuccessful in getting her to go to the authorities, but said they helped her cover her bruises with makeup.
“She has a very important job in the community. You’re not going to a pharmacy and getting drugs from somebody that looks all busted up,” Mr. Manghan said after the arraignment.
Ms. Tennant is due back in Southampton Justice Court this morning. The D.A.’s office said it would present the case to a grand jury, but as of yesterday no indictment had been handed down.
With Reporting By Doug Kuntz