The Freeport man accused of killing an 82-year-old man and suspected in at least two other violent attacks over the weekend will make his first court appearance Thursday.
Quinton Hanna, 22, will appear at 9:30 a.m. at Cumberland County Superior Court in Portland on a murder charge in connection with the Sunday death of James Pearson of Scarborough, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Hanna allegedly stabbed Pearson in a random attack about 8:15 a.m. Sunday while Pearson was in the front yard of his Beech Ridge Road home, authorities have said. Pearson was taken to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where he was pronounced dead.
Neither Pearson nor Hanna knew one another, Maine State Police Lt. Mark Holmquist said Tuesday afternoon at a press conference at the Scarborough police station.
Hanna is suspected in at least two other violent attacks in the midcoast over the weekend.
Hanna allegedly sexually assaulted a West Bath woman on Birch Point Road between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Sunday, Holmquist said Tuesday. The woman got away and began to run down the road, and Hanna drove into her with a silver 2013 Subaru Outback, according to police.
Hanna is also suspected in another attack on Saturday night in Freeport, where a homeowner was stabbed, according to Holmquist. That attack remains under investigation, the lieutenant said Tuesday.
He was arrested about noon Sunday near Cooks Corner in Brunswick when police there spotted him in a black Ford Explorer reported stolen about 11:17 a.m. on Houghton Pond Road in West Bath, according to police.
Hanna was taken to Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset, where state police arrested him Tuesday morning in connection with Pearson’s death.
Hanna also has been charged with attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, unlawful sexual contact, robbery, criminal restraint, burglary and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon in the West Bath attack, Holmquist said Tuesday.
He made his first appearance on those charges at West Bath District Court on Monday.
Police described the incidents as “targets of opportunity” and said Hanna did not know any of the victims.
Police are still trying to establish whether anything related to drug use, medication or mental health influenced Hanna’s alleged actions.
Hanna has “multiple assaults and thefts in his criminal history,” Holmquist said Tuesday, though no convictions.