A Machias woman who was shot Monday at her home at 323 Kennebec Road was listed in critical condition at a Portland hospital on Tuesday afternoon.
The woman, identified in court documents as Regina Hall Long, 49, is one of four people shot Monday morning, allegedly by Thomas Bonfanti, 63, of Northfield in a series of shootings that took place at three houses in two towns. The other three victims all died as a result of their injuries.
A spokeswoman at Maine Medical Center said Tuesday that Long remains at the hospital in critical condition.
The other three victims have been identified as Shawn Currey, 57, of Machias; Samuel Powers, 33, of Jonesboro; and Jennifer Bryant-Flynn, 49, of Machias. Long and Currey both were shot at 323 Kennebec Road, where Long was found outside when police arrived. Powers was shot at 69 Roque Bluffs Road in Jonesboro, and Bryant-Flynn was shot at 666 Kennebec Road in Machias, police have said.
Bonfanti has been charged with three counts of murder in connection with their deaths and with elevated aggravated assault for the shooting of Long, according to court documents. He is expected to make his first appearance in court in Calais at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.
State police have declined to identify the injured woman. Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department Public Safety did not identify Long by name but said Tuesday that her condition is “improving.”
A police affidavit filed in the case, which is believed to contain details about the shootings, has been impounded by a judge and is not yet publicly available.
McCausland said the affidavit likely will be released Wednesday. Police have not released details on what may have motivated or factored into the shootings.
“We continue to gather evidence from the four houses,” McCausland said, including where Bonfanti lives, on Black Cow Meadow Road in Northfield. “That is ongoing now and will continue tomorrow as well.”
Lt. Troy Gardner of the Maine State Police said Monday that Bonfanti knew all the victims but declined to comment further. He did not say whether the victims knew each other. He said Bonfanti was unarmed when taken into custody but that police have recovered a gun, the type of which he declined to identify. Police had not tested it to confirm it was the firearm that Bonfanti is alleged to have used, Gardner said Monday.
Bonfanti did not appear to have been injured during any of the confrontations, Gardner said.
Bonfanti’s criminal history in Maine lists an operating under the influence charge in November 2004. A Washington County jury found him guilty in April 2007, resulting in a 90-day license suspension and $600 fine, according to the Maine State Bureau of Identification.
Another piece of information that has not been disclosed is the sequence of the shootings, which were reported within about a half hour of each other.
State police said Monday that the first shooting was reported at 10:47 a.m. at 323 Kennebec Road. The second was reported at 11:03 a.m. at 69 Roque Bluffs Road, and the third was reported at 11:20 at 666 Kennebec Road. The third shooting was reported five minutes after Bonfanti was taken into custody peacefully at the American Legion Post #9 on Court Street in Machias, according to police.
Sherith Pankrantz and Stephen Rutter, neighbors of Samuel Powers in Jonesboro, said Tuesday that they were not sure when the shooting nearby occurred. Both left their house Monday morning but they returned at separate times between 10 and 11 a.m. They said they never heard any gunshots or any other sound of commotion from Powers’ house.
They said they frequently saw Bonfanti’s vehicle, a 2002 maroon Ford Expedition, at Powers’ house.
Pankratz and Rutter say they are friendly with Elizabeth Powers, Samuel’s mother, who lives with her son. On Monday afternoon a few hours after the shootings, they said, Elizabeth Powers came over to their house as police were gathering evidence at her home.
The couple declined to go into detail about what Elizabeth Powers told them, other than to say she told them she was not home when her son was shot. She seemed to be in a state of shock over her son’s death, they said.
“I feel like everyone is on edge a little bit,” Pankrantz said, adding they heard about the shooting at the Powers’ house from friends, but did not know whether Elizabeth had been shot until she called them to ask if she could visit them for a few minutes. “It’s scary.”
The American Legion hall in Machias, which was closed Monday after Bonfanti was taken into custody, was open again on Tuesday, but patrons there declined to comment on Bonfanti or on what happened when he showed up after the killings.
