Four found shot dead in Maine home and three others wounded in linked interstate gun battle
Four people are found murdered in Maine’s home and three others are shot and wounded along the highway in incidents related to the same gunman – who is now in custody
- Four people were found murdered in a house in rural Maine on Tuesday morning
- Shortly after police discovered those bodies, several cars along Interstate 295 were hit by gunfire
- A suspect is in custody and the police believe there is no longer any danger to the community
Four people have been found shot to death in a Maine home and three others were injured in a linked shooting along a nearby highway.
Four victims were found at a home in Bowdoin on Tuesday morning. A subsequent shooting erupted along Interstate 295 injuring three others. The locations are approximately 25 kilometers apart.
Police say a suspect has been apprehended and there is no longer any danger to the public. Maine state police said the shootings were related, but did not immediately discuss a motive or identify the person in custody, police spokesman Shannon Moss said.
Further details about the identities of the victims and the gunman, a possible motive and whether those injured in the second attack were targeted have yet to emerge.
A suspect is seen handcuffed in police custody. Shortly after this photo was taken, he was taken away
This is the scene of the shooting along Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, Maine
Bullet holes can be seen in the windshield of the silver sedan involved in the shooting
Maine State Police are continuing to search the area where the suspect was taken into custody as a precaution
Maine State Police are continuing to search the area where the suspect was taken into custody as a precaution.
told Lisa Erickson the Portland Press Herald that she heard gunshots near her home in Yarmouth, a few minutes later her neighborhood was swarming with police officers.
Erickson said responding officers told her and her neighbors to stay indoors while a search was conducted. The suspect’s abandoned car was parked close to the woman’s house.
Alex Haskell of WGME-TV posted a video on social media showing a suspect in custody speaking to police officers. Haskell said the man was taken away shortly after recording the video.
A car seen in Haskell’s video has multiple bullet holes in its windshield.
The town of Yarmouth has a population of about 9,000 and is located about 12 miles north of Maine’s largest city, Portland. Bowdoin is a small farming community with a population of approximately 3,000.
A police officer stands guard in Yarmouth, where residents were told to take shelter after the shooting
“We are confident there is no imminent threat to the general public at this time,” said Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry, whose deputies provided assistance in Bowdoin. He referred questions to state police.
At the Bowdoin crime scene, yellow crime scene tape hung around a house with a long gravel driveway in a wooded area.
About 10 marked and unmarked law enforcement vehicles and a crime scene van were parked outside, and detectives walked around and talked.
In Yarmouth, traffic stalled on the highway as police closed southbound lanes and state, county and local police searched the area.
Representatives from the Maine Department of Transportation said they closed the south end of I-295 in Yarmouth in the late morning at the request of state police.
Police briefly ordered people in nearby neighborhoods to take shelter, but authorities later announced there was no threat to the public.
Lenora Felker, who works near the highway at Rosemont Market and Bakery, said she sensed something was up as people poured in, saying the highway was closed, followed by dozens of law enforcement officers descending on the area.
Officers searched businesses asking if they “saw anyone running wet and muddy,” Felker said. But she knew all the customers and didn’t see anything “unusual,” she said.