A confrontation over drugs inside a home at 879 N. Main St., Barre, Vermont, turned fatal on the evening of Thursday, April 24, 2025. Forty-five-year-old Franklin Driscoll was shot once in the abdomen about 5:25 p.m., taken first to Central Vermont Medical Center and then to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, and died of his wound at about 4 a.m. on April 25. An autopsy confirmed the cause of death was a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

The Vermont State Police led the investigation with the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office and local departments. Investigators described the shooting as an isolated incident between people who knew one another. Donna Robinson, 43, of Washington was detained the night of the shooting and later arrested.

Robinson told police that she and Driscoll had gone to the residence to confront someone about drugs and that, while on the stairs, Driscoll tried to hand her a gun; she said the firearm discharged when she pushed it away and struck him. Robinson was ordered jailed without bail pending arraignment. Anyone with information about the case or who was at 879 N. Main St. that evening is asked to come forward.