PORTLAND, Maine — A New Hampshire man who allegedly drove to a Saco home in December and shot his ailing wife and another man was indicted Wednesday on federal charges of interstate domestic violence and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Gregory Owens, 58, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the domestic violence charge, and 10 years to life in prison for the firearms charge, which must be served consecutively. He also faces a $250,000 fine on each count.
Saco police went to a home at 25 Hillview Ave. just before 3 a.m. Dec. 18 after a man called to say he’d been shot by an intruder and was hiding in a closet in the home. Police were informed that there might be other victims in the house.
Police then found Owens’ 55-year-old wife, who was staying with the Saco couple for a few days, suffering from multiple gunshots. Officers also found a man suffering from gunshot wounds in the residence.
Both were taken to Maine Medical Center and survived “serious” injuries.
According to an affidavit by Special Agent Pamela A. Flick of the FBI, the homeowners awoke to the sound of breaking glass. The woman barricaded herself in a bedroom while the man went into the hall and allegedly saw a man wearing a ski mask carrying a handgun.
Prosecutors say Owens, a retired U.S. army sergeant major trained as an expert marksman, then went to the bedroom where his wife was sleeping and shot at her four times, striking her body three times including one bullet to the back of her head.
He then allegedly returned to the bedroom where the male homeowner was and shot him through a closet door, striking him three times in the arm.
Flick wrote that Owens drove from the Londonderry, New Hampshire, home he shared with his wife of more than 35 years to Saco that night, intending to kill her.
A subsequent investigation involving by the FBI, the Saco Police Department, the Maine and New Hampshire state police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allegedly revealed that Owens’ wife had become “suddenly and inexplicably ill” during 2014 and began showing signs of dementia. Owens had reportedly been asking friends to help with her care because she was unable to care for herself.
New Hampshire state troopers stopped Owens later in the morning of Dec. 18 in Londonderry to notify him his wife had been shot. Owens then allegedly told police several different stories about the previous night.
Police allegedly seized 26 firearms from the New Hampshire house, as well as other evidence that prosecutors say points to Owens as the perpetrator, according to court documents
U.S. marshals arrested Owens on Jan. 11. He remains in federal custody pending a March 18 hearing in U.S. District Court.