Joseph Eaton: Man accused of fatally shooting 4 in Maine home and injuring 3 on highway is arrested
BOWDOIN, MAINE: A 34-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the shooting deaths of four people at a home in Bowdoin, Maine before shooting and injuring three others on a nearby interstate on Tuesday, April 18. Authorities identified the suspect as Joseph Eaton and charged him with murder.
Initially, law enforcement responded to a shooting scene in Bowdoin at 10.30 am and discovered four lifeless bodies, before learning about scores of people being shot in cars traveling along a busy highway about 25 miles away. Police have not disclosed further details of the suspect or a possible motive in the callous shootings. It also remains unclear how Eaton was arrested but he is expected to appear in court later this week.
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'It was random that my family was shot at!'
Maine State Police alerted that there is no further threat to the public after the suspect connected to both shootings was taken into custody. "A person of interest has been detained, and the incidents are connected," Maine State Police Lt Randall Keaten told reporters prior to the arrest. Police revealed the three victims who suffered gunshot wounds were motorists and have been hospitalized, one of them remains in critical condition.
On Facebook, Bowdinham resident Ian Halsey said that some of the victims were his cousins and revealed they shared no connection with the shooter. "My cousin is in critical condition and my other cousin is stable. There is no connection between the victims. It was random that my family was shot at," Halsey told the Portland Press Herald. A witness to the interstate shooting said, "We just saw a bunch of smoke. And my friend in the truck was like, 'I think that's gunpowder, like gunsmoke.'" In response to the shootings, Maine Gov. Janet Mills tweeted that she was "shocked and deeply saddened — acts of violence like we experienced today shake our state and our communities to the core."
Following the highway shooting in the town of Yarmouth, a city of about 9,000 people about 12 miles north of Portland, there was a heavy presence of police near the crime scene carrying rifles. Resident Lisa Erickson said she heard gunshots close to her home in Yarmouth and responding officers told her and her neighbors to stay indoors while a search was conducted. She said the 34-year-old shooter abandoned his car close to her home. Maine State Police are continuing to search the area where the suspect was taken into custody out of an abundance of caution.