Attempted Murder Charge For Flanders Woman

Patchita Tennant, the popular manager at the East Hampton CVS on Pantigo Road, who is accused by police of shooting her boyfriend the evening of September 5, has been indicted by a grand jury on four felony charges, including attempted murder, according to online court records.

A grand jury handed down the sealed indictment October 31. Along with attempted murder, Tennant was charged with assault with a weapon with intent to cause serious injury, criminal use of a firearm in the first degree, and assault with a weapon with an intent to cause injury. She faces five to 25 years in prison if convicted of just one of the three most serious charges. The indictment will be unsealed in the Riverside county courtroom of Justice John Collins November 14.

Tennant, 42, has been free since September 10, when her family secured her release with a $500,000 bond.

Tennant is alleged to have shot her boyfriend, Andrew Silas Mitchell, three times with a .38-caliber revolver during an argument inside their Flanders home. The couple had jointly purchased the house in 2015. Two of the shots hit Mitchell in the chest, collapsing his lungs. The third struck him in the arm.

Mitchell was hospitalized, survived the shooting, and reportedly identified Tennant as his assailant.

The couple have a three-year-old daughter. The whereabouts of the child, unknown to the police immediately after the alleged shooting, while Tennant was still at-large, caused the Southampton Town police to issue an Amber Alert. That was cancelled when it was learned Tennant had dropped the child off with a relative.

Accompanied by her attorney, Tennant turned herself in at Southampton Town police headquarters September 6.

The charges indicate the grand jury did not believe the child was in the house at the time of the shooting.

Tennant’s lawyer, Austin Manghan, argued during her initial arraignment in Southampton Town Justice Court September 7 that his client was an abused woman, and was struggling with Mitchell over the gun when it went off. He said that Mitchell was also the owner of the weapon.

Numerous supporters, both coworkers and family members, have told the media Manghan is right in his argument, saying that they have witnessed bruises on Tennant in the past.

The prosecution stated during that initial arraignment that Tennant was holding the gun at the time of the shooting, and told Mitchell, “I’m going to kill you, and I am going to kill myself.”

Calls to Manghan went unanswered. Tennant has not returned to work at CVS since her arrest, according to an employee who answered the phone there Sunday.

t.e@indyeastend.com