Law enforcement officers approach vehicles at a scene where people were injured in a shooting on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, Maine on Tuesday, April 18, 2023. Gunfire that erupted on Maine’s busy highway are linked to a second crime scene where the people were found dead at a home about 25 miles away in the town of Bowdoin, Maine, state police said . (AP Pictures)
A man who police say shot and killed his parents and their two friends at a Maine home and injured three highway drivers because he thought police were following him was released days earlier from jail, authorities announced on Wednesday.
Joseph Eaton, 34, has been charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of his parents, Cynthia Eaton, 62, and David Eaton, 66, and their friends Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger, 62 , at their home in Bowdoin, Maine, police said at a news conference Wednesday. He was jailed and was due to appear in court for the first time later in the week, authorities said.
The shooting shocked the quiet community.
“It’s very difficult for the community,” Maine State Police Col. Bill Ross told a news conference. “That stuff doesn’t happen in Maine.”
Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said it was “an attack on the soul of our state.”
“It’s a shock for everyone,” he said. “You naturally want to say, ‘Well, that can’t happen here in Maine. It happens everywhere else, but it doesn’t happen here. But the reality is that these senseless acts can and do happen anywhere and at any time.
Eaton had been released Friday from the Maine Correctional Center, where he was serving time for aggravated assault, Ross said. His mother picked him up and they drove to the house where the murders took place, Ross added.
A man believed to be the suspect posted on Facebook the same day Eaton was released from prison saying he felt grateful, The Associated Press reported.
“It’s finally over,” the man says in the video. “There are so many people I can’t wait to see.”
The AP also reported that a man believed to be Eaton posted a video “criticizing people who he says are Christians and don’t give people second chances.”
“What’s the point of hating someone?” he said, choking back tears, the AP reported. “You know, it destroys you.”
The Independent reported that he posted a sobbing video about “trauma” and “sexual assault” before the incident.
The suspect was banned from owning a firearm in Maine, the AP reported. He had also been charged with more than half a dozen crimes over the past decade, according to records reviewed by AP.
Ross presented the timeline of events that began before 9:21 a.m. Tuesday when a friend made the grim discovery on Augusta Road and called 911.
Deputies found the Egers and Cynthia Eaton dead inside the home, authorities said. David Eaton was found dead in a barn on the property. They all died of gunshot wounds.
The AP, citing a neighbor, reported that one of the victims was known to deliver baked goods to neighbors while on vacation.
“They were very nice people,” Denise Pride said, according to the AP. “Neighbors were texting, shocked that this had happened, and at them.”
As police investigated the home homicides, multiple police departments responded to shots fired at multiple vehicles on a highway about 20 miles away.
Four vehicles were hit by gunfire, officials said. Three family members in the same car were hospitalized. Sean Halsey, 51, and Justin Halsey, 29, suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Paige Halsey, 25, was listed in critical condition, Ross said.
Ian Halsey told the AP that two of his cousins were shot on the freeway and his uncle was injured by shrapnel.
“They were just passers-by in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said of his family, adding that they did not know the suspected shooter. “It’s horrible what happened”
Police said they found the suspect in a wooded area near a vehicle believed to be his on a freeway ramp.
Ross said the suspect admitted to killing his parents and their friends and shooting at vehicles on the freeway because he believed officers were following him.
Details about a weapon, motive and charge status in the freeway shootings were unclear Wednesday. It was unclear whether the suspect had an attorney, the AP reported.
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