Police officials reported that a Maine man killed his parents, two of their close friends, just days after his mother picked him up from prison.
Joseph Eaton (34), allegedly opened fire on the interstate later that day, injuring three people officers. Police say he was taken into custody and confessed without incident.
After he had served his sentence for the aggravated assailant, Cynthia Eaton, 62, picked him up at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham, on Friday.
The police did not provide any information on Eaton between Friday morning and Tuesday, when his relative found the bodies of Eaton’s parents and two of their friends, who had been shot, at a house in Bowdoin about 30 miles north of Portland.
Cynthia Eaton and her husband David Eaton were both pronounced dead on the property. Two of their friends Robert Eger, 72, and Patricia Eger 62, also died. Three victims were found inside the house, and one was outside near a shed.
According to the Bangor Daily News, Eaton was also convicted in Maine of domestic violence assault, operating under the influence, and illegally possessing firearms in Florida.
Eaton wrote on Facebook that “it is finally over” and that he was looking forward to seeing “so many of the people”. He began posting darker messages a few days later.
“Life as a whole is suffering. You work for the duration, you get sick, people you love die, and your guaranteed to have ‘bad days,'” Eaton wrote on Sunday evening. “Life is a trial for what is to come.”
He posted on Monday a video in which he seemed to be trying to tag his mom, and wrote “Thanks for not giving up on me.”
“A lot of people look at you and think, ‘Oh, well, there’s just another, you know, f—up,'” Eaton said in the video as he cries. “And then they turn around and claim to be Christian. You can’t forgive somebody or understand what they go through. You can’t give someone a second chance.”
After the shooting in Bowdoin, Eaton opened fire on an interstate about 25 miles south in Yarmouth because he thought he was being followed by police, officials said. Three people – Sean Halsey, 51, Justin Halsey, 29, and Paige Halsey, 25 – were wounded in that shooting. Paige was still in critical condition on Wednesday.
“When you see a series like the one that occurred yesterday, it’s an attack on our state. It’s shocking for everyone. It’s a surprise to those who have worked in the system for decades, including myself,” Maine Department of Public Safety commissioner Michael Sauschuck stated in a Wednesday press conference.
