The wounding of an Androscoggin County man in Lewiston was “likely drug related” and the second shooting on Bartlett Street this week, police said Thursday.
George Simmons, 23, of Auburn, suffered a single gunshot to the abdomen near or at 147 Bartlett St. at about 5 p.m. on Monday. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment, Lewiston police Lt. David St. Pierre said in a statement released Thursday.
Police Chief Brian O’Malley ordered the start of extra patrols, officers in police cars and on foot, on Bartlett Street in response to the two shootings there this week, according to the statement.
“The most recent incidents involving firearms were due to domestic violence and drug use,” O’Malley said in the statement, adding, “this violence will not be tolerated.”
The shooting follows the arrest of a local woman, 32-year-old Sheila Ramponeau, charged Tuesday with firing a handgun during a domestic dispute. She was arrested after police received several calls at 11 p.m. Monday reporting gunshots near 230 Bartlett St. Police allege that Ramponeau had fired a gun during a domestic dispute, shattering a window of her own vehicle, the Sun Journal reports.
Simmons, meanwhile, remains at Central Maine Medical Center where he underwent surgery and was still being treated for his injuries on Thursday. Witnesses at the scene said his assailant dropped the gun, but then stuffed it into a bag and ran, the Sun Journal reports.