A Maine man has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly killing four people in a home before shooting three others on an interstate shortly afterward. Joseph Eaton, 34, was arrested hours after he opened fire in Bowdoin, Maine, and on nearby Interstate 295 on Tuesday morning.
Authorities believe Eaton is the lone gunman behind murdering four people and injuring three others in separate incidents. It is still unclear how Eaton was taken into custody. He is currently under arrest and is scheduled to appear in court later this week after authorities promptly connected the shootings. Officers are currently interrogating Eaton.
Arrested at Last
Law officials arrived on the scene in Bowdoin at 10:30 am and found four victims. They then learned that several people had been shot in cars traveling along the highway about 25 miles from the first shootings on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth, a city about 25 miles south of Bowdoin.
Shortly afterward, state police confirmed that three drivers had been hospitalized with gunshot wounds, with one in critical condition. Following that Eaton was arrested.
However, authorities didn't reveal how they tracked Eaton and under what circumstances they arrested him.
Maine State Police insisted that there is no longer a threat to the public with the arrest of Eaton linked to both shootings. Authorities are yet to reveal a motive behind the killings.
"A person of interest has been detained, and the incidents are connected," Maine State Police Lt. Randall Keaten told reporters prior to the arrest.
Cassidy Voisine, who witnessed the highway shooting, told CBS affiliate WGME-TV, "We just saw a bunch of smoke. And my friend in the truck was like, 'I think that's gunpowder, like gunsmoke.'"
She claimed that she was a passenger in a pickup truck when a car with its windshield protruding swerved in front of them as they were traveling south on I-295.
"So weird to think that we were right behind them when this happened," Voisine said.
Investigation Still On
Police did not reveal a motive behind the shootings or any information about a connection between the suspect and the people who died. a news conference was scheduled for Wednesday.
Ian Halsey, a resident of Bowdinham, claimed on Facebook that some of the victims were his cousins. "'My cousin is in critical condition and my other cousin is stable. There is no connection between the victims. It was random that my family was shot at," Halsey told the Portland Press Herald.
Maine State Police are still searching the area where the suspect was arrested because of an abundance of caution.
Lisa Erickson told to the Portland Press Herald that her neighborhood was overrun with police a few minutes after hearing gunshots near to her Yarmouth house.
According to Erickson, officers who responded instructed Erickson and her neighbors to remain inside while a search was being done. The woman's home was not far from the suspect's abandoned car.
WGME-Alex TV's Haskell posted a video on social media that shows a suspect in custody talking to police. According to Haskell, the person was taken away immediately after he recorded the video.
Haskell's video also shows a car with numerous bullet holes in the front windshield.
Yarmouth, which has a population of about 9,000 people, is located about 12 miles north of Portland, the largest city in Maine. Bowdoin is a small farming town with a population of about 3,000 people.
