Four people were fatally shot in a Maine home, and three others were shot and wounded on a highway 25 miles away, in a pair of crimes that were linked, state police said. One person was in custody.
The bodies were found in a home in Bowdoin a short time before three people were shot in their vehicles to the south on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, authorities said.
Maine State Police said the shootings were connected but didn't immediately discuss a motive or identify the person in custody, police spokesperson Shannon Moss said.
GUNFIRE ON I-295
Moss said that the highway shootings occurred at 10:30 a.m. near Mile Marker 17 and Exit 15, where "three people were shot while driving their vehicles southbound."
Police closed southbound traffic on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth after the shooting. The road was reopened to traffic except for the Exit 15 ramp shortly before 5 p.m.
Three people were been taken to the hospital, and one of the two has been detained, police said. One of the injured remains in critical condition.
The shootings on I-295 led to a heavy police presence in Yarmouth, a town of about 9,000, including officers carrying rifles. At one point, heavily armed officers peered inside the trunk of a car that had apparent bullet holes in the windshield at an off ramp. Witnesses told reporters they saw one person in handcuffs.
Traffic backed up on the interstate as police shut down the southbound lanes, and state, county and local police canvassed the area. Representatives for the Maine Department of Transportation said they closed the southbound side of I-295 in Yarmouth in late morning at the request of state police.
Police briefly ordered people in nearby neighborhoods to shelter in place.
Employees at Water Treatment Equipment Inc., a business near the highway scene, locked the doors and pulled down the shades after being alerted to the lockdown, which lasted about 90 minutes, manager Kim Snyder said. Workers saw cars backing up on the highway, along with police cars, ambulances and fire trucks.
“It definitely shifted the day, and the worry kicked in,” she said. “They hadn’t caught the active shooter. We didn’t know what was going on. There was a lot of the unknowns.”
The town of Yarmouth announced on its Facebook page that "after recovering a firearm that was missing from the scene, and determining that there was no other person involved, the Police advised that there is no active threat to the community and no need for lockdowns."
Lenora Felker, who works near the highway at Rosemont Market and Bakery, said she sensed something was afoot when people started streaming in, saying the highway was closed, followed by dozens of law enforcement officers who descended on the area.
Officers canvassed businesses asking if they had seen “anyone that was wet and muddy fleeing,” Felker said. But she knew all the customers and didn’t see anything “out of the ordinary,” she said.
The Maine Department of Transportation suggests using Exit 17 as a detour while the southbound lanes are closed.
GRISLY SCENE IN BOWDOIN
Maine State Police confirmed the highway shooting is related to the discovery of four bodies inside a home on Augusta Road in Bowdoin. The four deceased individuals in Bowdoin have been transported to the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta where an autopsy may determine the manner and cause of death.
“We are confident that there is no imminent threat to the general public at this time,” said Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry, whose deputies were assisting in Bowdoin. He referred questions to state police.
At the scene in Bowdoin, yellow crime scene tape hung around a home 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 investigators moved about and talked.
Police are asking anyone with information about the shootings to call the Augusta Regional Communications Center at (207) 624-7076, option number 9.
