CHELSEA — A local man was arrested Thursday morning after allegedly firing a .22-caliber rifle in the general direction of another man, Maine State Police said shortly after the incident.
The shooting occurred sometime before 10 a.m. on Brook Lane, a private road off Togus Road in Chelsea that’s about a half-mile from Chelsea Elementary School and the Chelsea Town Office.
The school was on lockdown for 30 minutes while police investigated the gunfire, said Sgt. Chris Rogers, of the Maine State Police. Rogers said no one at the school was ever in danger and the lockdown was a precautionary measure.
Douglas Burl, 54, was charged with reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon before being taken to the Kennebec County jail. His bail was set at $30,000, Rogers said.
Police first went to Burl’s residence, 45 Brook Lane, after another man, the alleged victim, reported that Burl had shot at him. The man filed the report from an auto shop about a quarter-mile down Brook Lane, where it meets Togus Road.
“The caller told troopers he had been driving on Brook Lane when an acquaintance fired a rifle at him five times,” a representative of the Maine State Police wrote on Tuesday afternoon on the agency’s Facebook page.
The man was not hit by the gunfire and his car did not appear to be damaged, Rogers said.
The incident appeared to be related to an ongoing dispute between the two men, Rogers said.
At 10:45 a.m., about a half dozen police cruisers were parked on Togus Road and Brook Lane. Several troopers could be seen interviewing Burl outside his home before handcuffing him and taking him to the jail.
The rifle Burl used in the shooting was found a quarter-mile away in the woods behind his residence, and five shell casings were found in his driveway, the agency wrote in the Facebook post.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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