Man held without bail on murder charge

SKOWHEGAN – An Anson man accused of shooting an acquaintance after an evening of drinking was returned to jail after his initial court appearance on a murder charge Wednesday.

Gary Watland, 42, was ordered held without bail at the Somerset County Jail, where he was taken on Tuesday.

Watland told reporters that he shot Wayne Crowley, 32, early Monday in self-defense. He said Crowley became belligerent with his wife and that he had told Crowley to leave and had fired a warning shot.

But Watland told state police Detective Robin P. Parker that Crowley never threatened him or his wife physically, and that Crowley had no weapons and made no attempt to strike either one of them, according to an affidavit.

“Mr. Watland readily admitted to me that he pointed his .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver at Wayne Crowley’s head and pulled the trigger for the sole purpose of killing him,” Parker wrote in the affidavit.

Watland told the detective that his wife, Susan, removed Crowley from his chair and threw him down a set of stairs when he wouldn’t leave. Watland said he punched Crowley in the face when he tried to come back inside.

Although Crowley made no attempt to strike either of them, he did grab Susan Watland’s jacket and lunge at her, the affidavit said.

The affidavit made no reference to Watland telling Crowley to leave and firing a warning shot.

Watland said the victim was “dazed and probably didn’t know where he was,” according to the affidavit.