AUGUSTA — A Winthrop woman was shot with a BB gun multiple times Friday night after using a stun gun in an attempt to stop a domestic dispute between another couple, according to police records filed in court.

Trisha Audette, 33, was shot in the head, forearm and hand Friday night as she tried to break up a fight between Jamahl A. Howell, 27, and another woman at a home on Route 133.

“I am sore,” Audette said in a phone interview Monday. “I still have a pellet in my arm.”

Audette said she called police that night as she was heading to her Morton Street home, and a police officer met her there. Audette told Winthrop Police Officer John D. Hall that she was shot by Howell, who she calls Boo, as she tried to break up the fight.

“I was just trying to be a friend,” Audette said. “I defended another woman from being beaten again.

Audette said she threatened to use a stun gun on Howell to stop him when he pointed a gun at her face.

“I thought it was a real gun,” Audette said. “I thought I was going to die.”

She said he grabbed her by her hair, which was in a bun, and yanked her around the kitchen. Audette said she fired the stun gun at Howell with no effect after she was shot, and when he dropped the BB gun during the commotion, she picked it up and shot him with it.

According to an affidavit by Hall filed in Kennebec County Superior Court, Audette used the gun on Howell “and hit him in the head to the point that he was bleeding.”

Then, she said she was able to get to her car and fled to her home.

Audette said she was taken to MaineGeneral Medical Center by Winthrop Ambulance and treated for the wounds, but doctors left a metal piece in her arm muscle. She’s hoping her doctor will remove it this week.

Audette referred to police as the man only as Boo, and described him as a black man with a lip ring. Police found Howell at a different home in Winthrop along with the woman he had allegedly been fighting with, and her mother. Hall’s affidavit says Howell “had dried blood on the left side of his head and neck.”

Howell was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault, and bail initially was set at $5,000. He remained in jail all weekend and at Howell’s initial court hearing appearance Monday afternoon via video link from the jail, Justice Michaela Murphy set bail at $2,000 cash, saying it could be reviewed once a defense attorney was appointed.

Conditions of bail ban Howell from contact with Audette and from the other woman he was allegedly fighting with. He is also prohibited from using drugs and alcohol, and must comply with a curfew of 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Assistant District Attorney Alisa Ross sought a $1,000 cash bail, plus a Maine Pretrial Service supervisory contract, saying Howell had a criminal record in New Jersey for unlawful possession of a weapon, in Michigan for operating under the influence and in New Hampshire for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Thomas Tilton, serving as attorney for the day, told the judge that Howell had lived in Maine for four years, had a fixed address in Winthrop and that he could afford only about $200 cash bail. Tilton also said that Howell acknowledged the New Jersey conviction, but didn’t know anything about the others.

Tilton also said Howell needed treatment for his wounds, explaining: “He has pellets in his skull.”

Howell’s next court hearing is set for 10 a.m., Nov. 25, in Kennebec County Superior Court.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams

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