NEWPORT — Police say an overnight drunken fracas involving baseball bats escalated into a shooting at a local trailer park, leaving one man wounded and another in jail.
Nathan Wheeler, 18, was arrested on charges of aggravated reckless conduct and aggravated assault after he allegedly used a handgun to shoot another man.
Newport police Chief Leonard Macdaid said the situation began during the day Wednesday when a female juvenile stole alcohol from a Hannaford store in town. Around midnight Wednesday, residents of the Gilman Trailer Park on New Road were drinking the stolen alcohol when people began fighting one another using baseball bats. At that time, Wheeler went back to his residence to retrieve a handgun, Macdaid said, returned to the group and allegedly shot the victim in his leg. Police believe the gun belongs to Wheeler.
After the shooting, the victim, whose name police are not releasing, was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Bangor and has since been released.
According to Macdaid, the man is 27 years old and also lives in the park. Neighbors identified the victim as Eddie Mayfield.
One of the neighbors, who did not want his name published, said he went outside and found Mayfield sitting in the road, bleeding.
“(Eddie) just wanted me to hug him until the ambulance got here, so I did,” the neighbor said. Mayfield was doing OK after he was released from the hospital and was going to stay with his mother while he recovered, the neighbor added.
Other neighbors said they knew both Wheeler and Mayfield and were shocked by Wheeler’s actions. They said the park is “usually pretty mellow” and attributed the incident to alcohol.
The shooting was reported to police at 1 a.m. Thursday, at which point officers from Pittsfield and Dexter and troopers from Somerset and Penobscot counties responded to the incident.
Wheeler had left the scene of the shooting, prompting a search in which a state police dog unit assisted.
Police found Wheeler around 2:30 a.m. in his grandmother’s mobile home, where he also lives. Macdaid and Officer Jesse Gee arrested Wheeler and took him to the Penobscot County Jail, where he is being held without bail.
When asked if others involved would be charged, Macdaid said it is possible, as police are still investigating the incident.
Emily Higginbotham — 861-9239
ehigginbotham@centralmaine.com
Twitter: @EmilyHigg
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