Correction: The Maine State Police have corrected the spelling of Renee Sandora’s last name.

 3:24 p.m.

The man suspected of shooting a New Gloucester mother to death has a criminal history and was in Androscoggin County jail in May.

Joel Hayden, 29, was arrested then for failure to pay fines related to 2008  convictions for operating under the influence and for trafficking in dangerous knives, according to jail records.

Records also show he was arrested in 2008 for eluding a police officer and carrying a concealed weapon.

Police describe Hayden as living in New Bedford, Mass. He is suspected of shooting Renee Sandora, 27, and Trevor Mills, 28, outside of Sandora’s New Gloucester home Monday night.

Advertisement

Sandora died of her injuries, while Mills’ condition is unknown.
 

2:30 p.m.

Renee Sandora, the 27-year-old woman shot last night in New Gloucester, has died, according to Central Maine Medical Center.

She leaves behind four children, including three-month-old twins.

No further information was available about the condition of 28-year-old Trevor Mills of New Bedford, Mass.

Sandora and Mills were shot outside a home in New Gloucester last night and  both were taken to the Lewiston hospital in what police described as grave condition.

Advertisement

The man suspected of shooting them, 29-year-old Joel Hayden of New Bedford is under police guard at Maine Medical Center in Portland. He was hospitalized after leading police on a chase through Saco and Lyman and crashing into a ditch.

Hayden is the father of Sandora’s four children, all of whom lived in New Gloucester with their mother, police said. The children have been placed in the custody of grandparents.
 

12:07 p.m.

New Gloucester — Maine State Police are at the scene of a shooting in New Gloucester that put two people in the hospital.

Police have cordoned off a section of Bennett Road and the evidence response unit is at the home of Renee Sandora, 27.

Lt. Brian McDonough said police are trying to find out more about the relationship between the alleged shooter 29-year-old Joel Hayden, of New Bedford, Mass., and the two victims, Sandora and Trevor Mills, 28.

Advertisement

Sandora and Mills remain in grave condition at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

Nicky Andrews, a neighbor, said she heard shooting yesterday evening but didn’t think anything of it at the time because it’s not unusual for people to shoot at gravel pits nearby.  She learned later in the evening from friends that someone was on the loose in the area. She said it’s been a frightening situation for a nice neighborhood that is usually quiet.

 

10 a.m.

State police this morning identified two people shot in New Gloucester Monday night  as 27-year-old Renee Sandora of New Gloucester and 28-year-old Trevor MIlls of New Bedford, Mass.

Sandora and Joel Hayden, who was arrested Monday night after a police chase, have four children together, the youngest of which are 3-month-old twins, according to police. The children are now with grandparents.

Advertisement

Police said there was a history of domestic violence between Sandora and Hayden, 29, of New Bedford, Mass..

Sandora lived at a mobile home on Bennett Road where the shooting took place. Police plan to search the shooting scene and Hayden’s car today.

 

 

12:15 a.m.

A Massachusetts man was in police custody Monday night after he allegedly shot two people outside a home in New Gloucester.

Advertisement

Joel Hayden, 29, of New Bedford was arrested at gunpoint around 9 p.m. after crashing his car near Hawg Heaven, a restaurant and lounge in Lyman, according to Steve McCausland, a spokesman for the Maine State Police.

Hayden had not been charged with any crimes late Monday because he had to be hospitalized, but McCausland said Hayden is the sole suspect in a shooting that left a man and a woman wounded. The shooting victims, who McCausland said suffered “serious injuries,” were taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston.

McCausland did not have their names or ages.

The police spokesman said it was too early in the investigation to say what provoked the shooting outside a home at 322 Bennett Road.

According to police, Hayden allegedly fled the home in what witnesses described as a Cadillac.

He disappeared for a while until a vehicle matching that description was spotted on the Maine Turnpike in Scarborough by a state trooper.

Advertisement

McCausland said several state troopers pursued Hayden to the Saco turnpike exit.

Hayden then led police on a chase to the York County town of Lyman, where he crashed the car near Hawg Heaven, at the intersection of routes 202 and 5.

Don LaPointe, who owns the establishment, was taking a break outside when the accident happened. “I was having a cigarette when I heard all these sirens. His car just missed our driveway before it went into a ditch.”

LaPointe said he counted at least 16 police cruisers and several officers, all of whom had their weapons drawn. The officers were a mix of local, county and state police.

Hayden’s Cadillac sustained extensive damage in the crash.

“He (Hayden) put his hands out the window. I heard him say, I give up,” LaPointe said.

McCausland said Hayden, who did not resist arrest, was taken to Southern Maine Medical Center to be treated for injuries he suffered in the crash.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at: dhoey@pressherald.com

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.