PORTLAND

A Yarmouth man who fatally shot a Georgetown man during a scuffle in North Yarmouth last month was indicted Friday by a Cumberland County grand jury on a count of murder.

Police said Merrill “Mike” Kimball, 70, shot Leon Kelley, 63 of Georgetown, at a North Yarmouth business on Oct. 3 during a family confrontation. Police were called to Brown’s Bee Farm at 239 Greeley Road where Kimball and his wife, Karen Thurlow-Kimball — whose father, Stan Brown founded the business — had gone to retrieve honey.

Family members confronted them there, triggering a dispute during which Kelley was shot. Kelley was Brown’s son-in-law.

Kelley allegedly shoved Kimball, a smaller man, several times before Kimball shot him in what his attorney says was self-defense.

An indictment is not a finding of guilt; it is a finding that sufficient evidence exists to proceed to trial. The Portland Press Herald reports Kimball will remain free until he is formally arraigned on the charge.



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