Police investigating the shooting deaths of two men in Biddeford on Sunday have located one ex-convict and are hunting for another in connection with the homicides.

Police did not say the men, who were recently released from prison, are suspects and do not have arrest warrants for them in connection with the shootings. However, unlike others who were being sought in the case, police named Lance Palmer, 44, and Christopher Dube, 28, issued photographs of them and warned the public that Palmer should be considered armed and dangerous.

A state police dispatcher confirmed late Tuesday night that Dube has been located by police. She declined to provide additional details.

The Maine State Police said the men “may have been in Biddeford on Sunday” and “may have information on the shootings.”

Both men have lengthy records, especially Palmer, who has 24 convictions including 13 for assault. Palmer’s most recent conviction stemmed from a 2003 armed break-in and assault at an apartment in the Bangor area for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, as well as one year for violating a York County probation. He also has convictions for escape, drug trafficking, criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and numerous thefts and has served time in three counties and state prison.

Press reports show he also was charged with aggravated drunken driving for a hit-and-run crash in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, last year.

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Dube, who is 16 years younger, has a dozen convictions, including for theft, assault and forgery. He was convicted of stealing drugs in 2003 and in 2012 was sentenced to 18 months for burglary and forgery and ordered to be on probation for two years afterward.

Police said Dube was wanted on a warrant charging him with violating probation. Palmer is not wanted on any warrants.

Police list an Auburn address for Palmer and a Dover, New Hampshire, address for Dube, but both men have lived extensively in Biddeford.

Police were called to 19 Western Ave. in Biddeford at 7 p.m. Sunday for a report of a shooting.

There they found Russell Lavoie, 42, of Old Orchard Beach, and Jeffrey Lude, 37, of Biddeford. Lavoie died in an ambulance sent to the scene. Lude was taken to Southern Maine Medical Center in Biddeford and then to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Both died of multiple gunshot wounds.

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Neither Lavoie nor Lude lived at the Western Avenue apartment house, but their shootings were not a random act of violence, police said. The two had a reason for being in an apartment in the building, but investigators would not elaborate. The shooting occurred inside that apartment, police said.

Police would not say whether a gun was recovered, or whether they found evidence of criminal activity in the apartment.

The shooting, in the midst of a busy neighborhood with many rental units, drew witnesses instantly, some of whom reported seeing men and women running form the apartment building right after the shooting.

Police said Monday they were searching for two men and two women who they believed were in the apartment at the time of the shooting.

On Tuesday afternoon, state police announced that they had located the four and planned to question them. They also announced the search for Palmer and Dube.

Police already had conducted dozens of interviews with neighbors, friends and family of the dead men and residents of the three-unit apartment building, said state police spokesman Stephen McCausland. Evidence from the crime scene is being analyzed at the state police crime lab in Augusta, he said.

Biddeford police said there were 14 calls for service to 19 Western Ave. in the past year and a half but none seemed related to the shootings. The calls included medical calls for a person bleeding from a surgical wound, a person experiencing cardiac arrest and someone who was unresponsive and not breathing well. They also included a reported burglary when a transient walked into an apartment in the building and took a game system controller, a report of a domestic dispute involving a woman perpetrator, and the theft of a pickup, twice. Both times it was discovered the truck had been borrowed by a friend.

Police asked that anyone with information about Palmer’s location call the state police barracks in Gray at 657-3030.

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey contributed to this report.


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