ALBURGH — The shooting that left two men dead and another man critically injured in Alburgh on Saturday stemmed from a dispute over access to a shared hunting plot in North Hero, police and two people connected to the victims said.
Vermont State Police said David Mohamed, 51, and Larry P. Cameron, 41, were fatally shot in the torso during a struggle Saturday night outside Larry Cameron’s home on Cameron Drive.
Devin Cameron, 27, was shot multiple times and remains hospitalized, state police said in a press release Monday evening.
Devin and Larry Cameron are cousins, said another cousin, Kelly Deyo, who lives in Alburgh near Larry Cameron’s house.
Deyo said Mohamed has been a family friend for years.
Speaking at her house on Monday afternoon, Deyo said Devin Cameron and Mohamed had been arguing for about a week over whether to give Devin Cameron’s girlfriend first dibs on a hunting plot.
But Allana Gerlach, a close friend of the Camerons, said the dispute centered around whether Mohamed could “road hunt” at the same time Devin Cameron’s girlfriend was hunting at the property.
Gerlach said “it shouldn’t have happened and it was taken a step too far. And we can’t take it back at this point.”
Larry Cameron was not a hunter, Deyo said. She called the shooting “ridiculous.”
Police said the dispute prompted a fistfight between Devin Cameron and Mohamed earlier Saturday evening at the Dillenbeck Bay fishing access in Alburgh.
Following the fight, Devin and Larry Cameron traveled to Larry Cameron’s home, police said. Mohamed also drove there shortly after, sometime before 10 p.m. and was accompanied in a separate vehicle by two friends police identified as 23- and 25-year-old men from North Hero. Police did not share their names.
Police said Larry Cameron came out of the garage area of his home and fired multiple shots into the air from a 9 mm semi-automatic handgun in an effort to make Mohamed leave. Devin Cameron, who was unarmed, then joined Larry Cameron next to the driver’s-side door of Mohamed’s pickup truck while Mohamed was seated inside.
Mohamed brought out a .308 rifle, police said, and a struggle ensued over the weapon followed by an exchange of gunfire. Mohamed was struck multiple times by rounds from the handgun, police said, and Larry Cameron was struck once by a rifle round.
An autopsy conducted Monday at the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington determined the manner of both men’s deaths to be homicide, police said.
State police continue to investigate the shooting and the circumstances that led up to it. Once it’s complete, police said the investigation will be reviewed by Grand Isle County State’s Attorney Doug DiSabito, who will determine whether to file any charges.
Correction: The land at the center of the dispute that preceded the shooting is located in North Hero. An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect location. Information from Allana Gerlach about the nature of the dispute has been added.
