Target shots skirt surveyors’ space Monticello man could be charged

MONTICELLO – A Monticello man could be charged with reckless conduct with a firearm after his target shooting Monday afternoon came close to hitting two state surveyors.

Russell Brown, 39, told police he had been target shooting in a wooded area about a half-mile behind his home on Route 1 since about 9:30 a.m. Monday. He also had been shooting in an old dump and from the old Bangor and Aroostook Railroad trestle over the North Branch of the Meduxnekeag River

Dan Peers of Easton and Dan Edgecomb of Mapleton were in the area of the trestle doing a forestry inventory for the Department of Conservation at the same area Brown was target shooting.

They had walked into the site along the riverbank off Station Road to an area about a half-mile in and 1,000 feet south of the old railroad trestle to check an area of woodland for tree species, height and any disease in the trees, among other things.

They heard the shots around them most of the morning, but it wasn’t until the shots came near them at about 12:15 p.m. that they got worried.

“It was disbelief at first,” Dan Peers said about his initial reaction to the shots. “I thought, ‘This cannot be happening. This is not good.’

“I hollered, and as soon as I did, they fired off three or four shots,” Peers said, adding that he had served in the U.S. Army and knew when a gunshot was fired at him. “When they pulled a few more off, that’s when I felt threatened.

“I was scared,” he said, adding that he was in clear, open view, standing in the river at the time.

Edgecomb, who was standing on the riverbank about 50 feet from Peers, said the shots were fired as Peers was wading across the river to another survey point.

“I could hear [the shots] ripping right down the water,” he said. “You could hear the ricochet go off.

“When he hollered and they answered with shots, I knew it wasn’t kids out with a squirrel gun,” said Edgecomb. “We gathered our stuff as quickly as we could and left.”

Out of concern for their safety, Peers and Edgecomb left the area through the woods, rather than using the all-terrain vehicle trail they had followed on the way in.

“I’ve worked the whole county, and this is the first time this has ever happened,” said Peers, who has been with the department for three years. Edgecomb has been on the job for six weeks.

Five Maine State Police troopers and an Aroostook County sheriff’s deputy went to the area. During their search, they recovered ammunition shells from the area near the trestle.

Witnesses reported seeing a man with a gun walking on Station Street at about 1:30 p.m. Based on the witnesses’ description, police located Brown at home.

During his discussion with police, Brown admitted that he had been in the area of the river target shooting into the water from the trestle, according to Sgt. Hugh Turner of the state police.

Turner said Brown had purchased a .22-caliber rifle over the weekend and was trying it out on Monday. He told police he had not seen or heard the surveyors.

Based on that discussion, Turner said he did not think Brown was intentionally shooting at Peers or Edgecomb.

“There’s no way he could have seen them from where he was standing on the trestle,” said Turner. Peers and Edgecomb aren’t so sure the incident was accidental. Asked if they felt that could be the case, Edgecomb said, “No way.”

Peers added that he shouted “at the top of my lungs” and that Brown should have heard him.

The case has been turned over to the Aroostook County district attorney for review. Whether charges will be filed against Brown will depend on the outcome of that review, Turner said.