Maine shooting Grisly scene at Bowdoin home revealed as Joseph Eaton motive unknown

Seven people were shot – four of them fatally – when a gunman embarked on a shooting spree across two different locations in Maine on Tuesday.

The horror incident first began at a home in Bowdoin where four victims were found dead before police were called to reports of a random shooting at cars on a nearby highway in Yarmouth.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, a 34-year-old convicted felon who was released from prison just days earlier, was arrested and charged with murder. Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspect’s parents.

Now, the victims, their families and the communities of Bowdoin and Yarmouth are the latest to join a growing list impacted by gun violence in America.

Here’s what we know so far:

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in the town of Bowdoin on Tuesday morning to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

The suspect has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

The shooting took place at the home of the Egers. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, while Mr Eaton’s father was found at the property in a “non-attached garage,” according to the authorities.

Two communities in Maine were rocked this week when suspected gunman Joseph Eaton suddenly embarked on a shooting rampage – first at a home and then along an interstate.

Maine State Police said that officers were called to a house in the town of Bowdoin on Tuesday morning to find four victims dead from gunshot wounds.

Not long after the grim discovery was made, an assailant randomly opened fire on cars driving along Interstate 295 in nearby Yarmouth.

Three people were shot in the second attack – with one of them now in critical condition.

The alleged gunman was taken into custody on the scene.

Here’s what we know so far about Joseph Eaton:

Joseph Eaton, 34, was arrested over the two incidents – which are believed to be connected.

He was charged with four counts of murder over the victims in the home and is being held at Two Bridges Regional Jail.

He has not yet been charged over the highway shootings.

He will make an initial court appearance on Thursday, police said.

The suspect has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

Mr Eaton has a lengthy rap sheet going back more than a decade before Tuesday’s shooting spree and was only released from prison four days before Tuesday’s attack.

Past convictions include burglary, felony aggravated assault, domestic violence and violence against a law enforcement officer, as well as possessing a weapon as a felon.

Mr Eaton was sentenced in March 2021, according to the director of governmental affairs for the Maine Department of Corrections, Anna Black. He had been serving a sentence after a probation violation, the state official said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

While Mr Eaton has been charged with four counts of murder, he hasn’t yet been charged in connection to the highway shooting.

State records reveal that Mr Eaton has a criminal history which meant that he couldn’t legally own a firearm.

Mr Eaton’s criminal past begins in 2008 in Kansas when he was charged with burglary. He was sentenced in 2009 and released in 2010.

He was sentenced to three years behind bars in May 2018 after being charged with three counts of aggravated assault of a first responder in Nassau County, Florida.

Within a month of being released on 15 February 2021, he was sentenced on 1 March for an assault in Maine.

Mr Eaton shared an emotional video of himself online on Monday where he said that people think he is “just another f*** up” and complained about people who “claim to be Christian”.

In the footage, he is seen sitting in a car filming himself as he chokes up with tears and goes on a confusing ramble.

“I’m probably going to get emotional just talking about it,” he said.

“But a lot of people look at you and think ‘oh well there’s just another f*** up, another guy that can’t get his stuff together, treats people like s***’ and then they turn around and claim to be Christian.

“And you can’t forgive somebody or understand what they go through. You can’t give someone a second chance but you say you’re Christian. How does that make sense? Why can’t you just try to get to know the person again? What good’s it do to hate somebody? It destroys you.

Among the four victims shot dead in Maine were the suspect’s parents.

Joseph Eaton, 34, has been charged with four counts of murder after reportedly shooting and killing his father David Eaton, 66; his mother Cynthia Eaton, 62; and their friends Robert Eger, 72; and Patricia Eger, 62.

The suspect was released from prison just four days before he went on a rampage, shooting and killing those at the home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

The suspect left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday when he was picked up by his mother, according to the state authorities.

The shooting took place at the home of the Egers. Three of the bodies were found inside the home, while Mr Eaton’s father was found at the property in a “non-attached garage,” according to the authorities.

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The suspect in the Maine shootings was released from prison just four days before he allegedly went on a rampage, shooting and killing four people at a home and wounding another three people while driving down a highway.

Suspect Joseph Eaton, 34, left the Maine Correctional Center in Windham on Friday. He was sentenced in March 2021, according to the director of governmental affairs for the Maine Department of Corrections, Anna Black. He had been serving a sentence after a probation violation, the state official said on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Following his 14 April release, Mr Eaton was arrested on Tuesday after four bodies were found in a home on Augusta Road in Bowdoin. The killings have been connected to the highway shooting in which three people were injured later on Tuesday about 20 miles away in Yarmouth.

While Mr Eaton has been charged with four counts of murder, he hasn’t yet been charged in connection to the highway shooting. One of those shot on the highway remained in critical condition on Wednesday.

State records reveal that Mr Eaton had a criminal history which meant that he couldn’t legally own a firearm.

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A man confessed to killing four people, including his parents, and then firing on motorists on a busy interstate highway, just days after being released from prison, police said Wednesday.

Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, called the shootings of four people at a home in Bowdoin and then three more people on Interstate 295 to the south in Yarmouth “an attack on the soul of our state” that shook neighbors, law enforcement and the state at large.

“It’s a shock to everybody,” he told reporters in Augusta. “You want to naturally say, ‘That can’t be happening here in Maine.’ But the reality is these senseless acts can and do happen everywhere.”

The gunman, Joseph Eaton, 34, had been released April 14 from the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, where he was picked up by his mother after completing a sentence for aggravated assault, police said. That crime was serious enough to prevent him from possessing a gun in Maine. Over the past decade he has been charged with more than a half-dozen crimes.

The shootings began in the small town of Bowdoin, where four people were killed Tuesday, with three bodies discovered in a home and one in a barn, police said. The victims in Bowdoin were identified Wednesday as Joseph Eaton’s parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, along with their friends, homeowners Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62, police said.

After Joseph Eaton fled the home, a chaotic scene developed on a highway over 20 miles (32 kilometers) away in Yarmouth, where shots were fired at moving vehicles, police said. Joseph Eaton later told police he was firing on cars because he thought he was being followed by law enforcement. Several vehicles were hit by gunfire but the three people injured were a family all in the same car: Sean Halsey, 51; Justin Halsey, 29; and Paige Halsey, 25, police said. Paige Halsey remained in critical condition, police said Wednesday.

The seven were the latest victims of mass shootings in the U.S., whose targets included a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee; a bank in Louisville, Kentucky, and a Sweet Sixteen party in a small city in Alabama.