HERMON, Maine — Police have yet to talk to the Hampden man shot Monday by a longtime friend, but the victim’s mother says the shooting was clearly accidental.
“It was an out and out accident,” Carol Husson said at Eastern Maine Medical Center, where her son, Andrew Husson, was hospitalized.
Husson, 33, who had been listed in critical condition on Monday, was in fair condition Wednesday, a hospital spokeswoman said.
He was shot about 5:20 p.m. Monday by Joshua Ireland, 38, at Ireland’s Hermon home on Swan Road, Chief Deputy Will Sheehan of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said in an email. It was reported as an accidental shooting, the chief deputy said.
His department has not yet specified the nature of Husson’s injury or the type of gun involved in the incident.
The victim’s mother said she is relieved her son is no longer in critical condition.
“He’s doing as good as can be expected,” Carol Husson said.
Andrew Husson and Ireland have known each other for a long time and are very good friends, Carol Husson said as her son’s three children went into visit him.
Andrew Husson and Ireland “talked on the phone last night,” Ireland’s mother, Debra Ireland, said Wednesday.
She said her son has been “overwhelmed” since the shooting. It occurred while she was out of town visiting her granddaughter, and her husband was out of the house.
“I don’t like guns,” Joshua Ireland’s mother said, standing on her stoop.
Personnel from the sheriff’s office and Maine State Police responded to the scene to investigate.
Law enforcement officials have asked the family not to talk publicly about the shooting until after they have interviewed the injured man, Carol Husson said.
“Up until today they haven’t really been able to,” she said.