AUGUSTA — With a wound to his stomach, Rafael Encarnacion, 22, crawled out of a back bedroom of a Vassalboro home early Tuesday, shot with a homemade gun by the homeowner, who said it was in self-defense.

The man identified by police as the shooter, Joseph L. Gagnon, 55, told his brother that he shot Encarnacion — his daughter’s boyfriend — because Encarnacion threatened him and his family, according to a police report filed in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Gagnon, who has yet to be charged in connection with the shooting, turned himself in to Hallowell police following the incident, which was reported at 12:30 a.m. at Gagnon’s home on Whitehouse Road in Vassalboro.

Gagnon remained in the Kennebec County jail Thursday on a charge of violating a condition of bail related to an earlier incident. Encarnacion, of Bronx, N.Y., was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where a hospital spokeswoman said Thursday that she could not confirm whether he was a patient.

Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland said Thursday that authorities continue to monitor Encarnacion’s condition and expect him to survive. He said the shooting remains under investigation.

A police report by Maine State Police Detective Chris Tremblay, filed in court in support of holding Gagnon in jail, says Encarnacion had been picked up in Gardiner by Gagnon’s daughter, Jaimie Gagnon, 25.

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Jaimie Gagnon told police that she and Encarnacion stopped at the elder Gagnon’s Whitehouse Road home to check on Jaimee Laney, 33, who is Joseph Gagnon’s girlfriend and who was also living at the home, after seeing several vehicles in the driveway. The report did not say why the pair felt Laney needed to be checked on, but Joseph Gagnon had been banned from contact with Laney as a result of domestic violence charges stemming from an incident five months ago in Augusta, where Gagnon allegedly threatened her and rammed the rear of a vehicle she was riding in.

Early Tuesday morning, Jaimie Gagnon said she heard a shot after Encarnacion went into a back bedroom to check on Laney. A wounded Encarnacion then crawled out of the room on the floor.

Tremblay’s report says Joseph Gagnon called his brother, James Gagnon, 53, to come pick him up, and told him he had just shot his daughter’s boyfriend.

Before the shooting, Gagnon had been free on $2,500 bail on charges of domestic violence reckless conduct, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and operating under the influence, all relating to the incident in Augusta.

According to the Tremblay’s report, James Gagnon said his brother told him Tuesday morning that Encarnacion “was threatening him, his girlfriend and his kids, that the man had beat him in the past, and it wasn’t going to happen again.”

On Wednesday, prosecutors asked a judge to revoke Gagnon’s bail because Gagnon had been prohibited from having contact with Laney. After a hearing in Waterville District Court on Wednesday, Gagnon was ordered without bail on charges of violating conditions of release.

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Augusta incident

On Aug. 10, 2011, Augusta Police Officer Andrew Simmons went to North Belfast Avenue about 3 a.m. after Laney called 911 to report that Joseph Gagnon was ramming the front of his car into the rear of the vehicle she was riding in, according to an affidavit.

The driver of the rammed vehicle, Benjamin Pilsbury, pulled into the Mobil on the Run on Bangor Street, where Laney locked herself in the bathroom.

Gagnon also pulled into the parking lot and tried to drive away, when another officer arrived and blocked his car, according to Simmons’ affidavit.

Simmons recognized Gagnon from a call four hours earlier at a Water Street address, where both Gagnon and Laney appeared to have been drinking. He said Laney told him that she had come to Augusta to get away from Gagnon, but she now wanted to go home with him. Gagnon said he planned to take a cab home.

At the Bangor Street gas station, Simmons questioned Gagnon, who told him, “It’s always the women,” and later yelled that women always ruin things.

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Simmons said Gagnon was unsteady on his feet, slurred his words and emitted a strong odor of alcohol.

Laney told police that she and Gagnon had gone to their Vassalboro home together and Gagnon kept drinking and became abusive, so she and Michael Klaiber left in a vehicle driven by Pilsbury.

On the way to Augusta, she said Gagnon rammed into their vehicle three or four times with his car. Pilsbury told police he was traveling 60 to 80 mph when Gagnon was ramming him.

Laney said Gagnon threatened to kill her and leave her children without a mother.

Gagnon was initially held on $50,000 cash bail, with conditions barring him from contact with Laney, Pilsbury and Klaiber. Gagnon was also banned from driving and from using alcohol and illegal drugs.

That bail was later reduced to $2,500 with the same conditions.

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After the shooting early Tuesday, Laney too was arrested on a charge of failing to appear in court on a theft charge. She was released the same day on $200 bail.

According to court records, Encarnacion was arrested in Lewiston Oct. 3, and later convicted in Lewiston District Court of operating without a license.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com


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