Updated at 5:27 p.m.
BRATTLEBORO — A resident of the local Morningside House shelter was held without bail after pleading not guilty to first-degree murder in an ax attack Monday that killed the facility’s coordinator.
Zaaina Asra Zakirrah Mahvish-Jammeh, 38, allegedly bought a hunting hatchet over the weekend and took the life of her social worker, Leah Rosin-Pritchard. Arraigned Tuesday at Windham District Court, the defendant was ordered to receive a mental health evaluation before her case proceeds.
“She is a danger to others and potentially to herself,” Judge Katherine Hayes said of Mahvish-Jammeh.
Authorities initially deemed the homicide case as second-degree — intentional but unplanned — but upped the severity just before the hearing.
“Police investigated throughout the day and into the night,” said Tracy Shriver, Windham County state’s attorney. “As more facts were developed, I made the decision that first-degree murder was at a more appropriate charge.”
A Brattleboro police affidavit filed in court reported that the department received a call Monday morning about an assault in progress at the 30-bed Royal Road shelter, a short walk from downtown. There, staffers said they had heard screaming before seeing Mahvish-Jammeh attack Rosin-Pritchard.
Authorities said they found Rosin-Pritchard, 36, dead on the kitchen floor from injuries to her face, neck and torso.
They discovered Mahvish-Jammeh in the nearby living room, “wiping blood off of her hands with a paper towel,” according to the affidavit.
Reviewing surveillance video, police saw Mahvish-Jammeh addressing the social worker while swinging a small ax that authorities learned had been purchased from a local hardware store on Saturday.
“The short conversation they had was very muffled and hard to hear,” police Detective Sgt. Greg Eaton wrote in the affidavit, “but it was clear there was no argument before I could hear thudding and the screaming.”
Emergency medical responders pronounced the social worker dead at the scene.
Rosin-Pritchard, 36, joined the Groundworks Collaborative that operates the shelter in October 2021, serving as Morningside House’s case manager for a year before becoming its coordinator in October 2022, according to her LinkedIn page.
Rosin-Pritchard earned a bachelor’s degree in social work from Rhode Island College in 2019 and a master’s with a certificate in disaster and collective trauma from Tulane University in 2020. She interned with programs addressing hunger and homelessness after previous stints as a baker, coach, landscaper and business consultant.
“Beginning my second career in social work, I believe in implementing all I have learned thus far and integrating my skills in a space where I can be of service to the community,” she wrote on her LinkedIn page.
Rosin-Pritchard listed her strengths as “Harmony, Woo, Adaptability, Includer, Communication.”
Groundworks, which has temporarily relocated the other shelter residents, issued a written statement Tuesday calling Rosin-Pritchard “beloved,” “irreplaceable” and “wonderfully strong, positive, beautiful and compassionate.”
“Our staff and our program participants are grieving,” the statement said. “We are, at the same time, personally and organizationally impacted, and we are focused on supporting each other while continuing to provide food, shelter, and supportive services to people who need us.”
“When tragedy strikes, it often takes time to learn and evaluate the facts,” it continued. “We ask that during this process, we all refrain from making assumptions about these events and this tragic and heartbreaking loss of life.”
Monday’s homicide is the fourth in Brattleboro in the past year, following one in July 2022 on Elliot Street, a second in August 2022 on Putney Road and a third last Thursday on Birge Street.
