A Wilton man was arrested Thursday, charged with the June shooting death of Michael Reis, of New Sharon.
Timothy Danforth, 24, was charged with killing Reis, 24, at 259 Weld Road in Wilton on June 1, according to a news release from Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Safety.
Danforth was arrested by Maine State Police detectives following his indictment by a Franklin County grand jury on charges of murder, manslaughter and aggravated assault, according to the release. The indictment was handed up this week.
Reis was shot shortly after midnight outside the mobile home, which the release said is the residence of Danforth’s father, though it’s not clear if he’s the owner. Reis was a member of a group that had gone to the mobile home and got into a confrontation with the home’s occupants, who included Danforth and his father, it said. His father’s name was not immediately available and McCausland said in a brief phone interview he didn’t know what it was.
McCausland also declined to comment on why there was more than two-month delay in the arrest when the shooter had been identified shortly after the shooting, according to state police. He said “all further details will come out in court paperwork and judicial proceedings.”
Danforth was being held Thursday in the Franklin County Jail and will make his first court appearance either Friday or Monday, the release said.
McCausland did not know where Danforth was arrested Thursday but said he works at DeCoster Egg Farm in Turner.
After the shooting, Reis was taken to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington by some of the people he was with, where he was pronounced dead.
The indictments were handed up by the grand jury this week, and the case was presented to them by the Office of the Attorney General. A spokesman for the attorney general’s office didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment, and no other details were immediately available Thursday night.
Investigators had released little information since the shooting, including the names of the people who lived in the house where it took place. Lt. Brian McDonough, of the state police, said at a news conference at the scene the day of the shooting that the shooter had been identified, but police have released no information since then.
On June 1, police received a 911 call from inside the residence around 12:45 a.m. reporting that someone had been shot. When police arrived at the scene, Reis already had been taken to the hospital.
McDonough said at the news conference that several people were at the residence at the time of the shooting and that they were cooperating with the investigation.
At the scene, a pool of blood marked the driveway of the mobile home and blood spatter was visible about 100 feet down the center of the road in the quiet, tree-filled neighborhood toward town. Investigators at the scene on June 1 would not comment on the blood.
Danforth has criminal convictions for minor offenses. Court records show he was fined $350 in October 2014 for marijuana possession and fined $500, with a 48-hour jail sentence and 150-day license suspension in November for operating under the influence.
A neighbor, David Crockett Jr., said on the day of the shooting he woke up around 2 a.m. and saw police next door.
Crockett said he wasn’t sure who lived at the mobile home, though it appeared whoever lived there was moving on Tuesday, the day before the shooting. He said earlier in the day several truckloads of furniture were being moved from the home.
According to town records, the mobile home was owned by Alan Magrath at the time of the shooting. He couldn’t be reached after the shooting and it’s not clear whether he still is the owner, in light of Thursday’s news release, which said the residence is the home of Danforth’s father.
Reis was a 2010 graduate of Mt. Blue High School in Farmington and grew up in New Sharon, according to an obituary that was published after his death.
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