Police charge Penobscot man with attempted murder

ORLAND – A Penobscot man will be arraigned next week on a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly shot a Bucksport man with birdshot early Friday morning, according to police.

The victim, Nicholas Leach, 20, was taken Friday morning to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said later Friday she had no information on Leach, which could mean he was not admitted to the hospital or that he requested that no information be released to the public.

McCausland said he did not believe that Leach’s wounds were life threatening.

The suspect, Robert Atwood, 21, will spend the weekend in the Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth awaiting arraignment, a jail officer said Friday.

Atwood’s police mug shot, taken when he was booked at the jail, shows Atwood with two prominent black eyes, apparently the result of a brawl with Leach and others earlier in the week.

The District Attorney’s Office said Atwood would not be arraigned before Monday.

McCausland said Friday that the two men knew each other, but he wasn’t sure how well. McCausland said the two men, along with two others, had gotten into a fight earlier in the week.

Atwood reportedly cruised by the house where Leach was staying on the Gross Point Road several times before stopping and allegedly shooting Leach in the chest and arm with birdshot from a 12-gauge shotgun, the state police spokesman said.

Leach had heard Atwood’s car, which had a loud exhaust, and went out into the driveway at about 1:30 a.m. when he heard the car drive by again and was shot, McCausland said.

State police investigators found the weapon apparently used at midmorning Friday in the woods near Atwood’s home on Route 15 in Penobscot, McCausland said.