BIDDEFORD — Almost immediately after firing several rounds at his family from outside his parents’ home, 19-year-old Andrew Huber Young headed for the Wells police station.

He was handcuffed in the lobby and taken to the booking area, where he waited three hours for a pair of Maine State Police detectives to interview him.

They spoke for more than an hour on the evening of May 21, 2022, after Huber Young agreed to waive his constitutional rights to remain silent and consult a lawyer. His statements led to several charges against him, including assault, attempted murder, and the knowing or intentional murder of a minor child.

The interview also helped police understand why Huber Young shot at his family: According to a police affidavit, Huber Young told the detectives he was mad at his brother for stealing a T-shirt and threatening to destroy his hamster cage.

But in that interview, police never told Huber Young that his 2-year-old niece Octavia had died, or that his father and brother were wounded.

Huber Young, now 21, has pleaded not guilty to all five felony counts against him. He is slated for jury trial in June 2025.

He and his attorney David Bobrow were in York County Superior Court on Tuesday, trying to convince Superior Court Justice Richard Mulhern to throw out the entire interview, which they argued was involuntary and therefore unconstitutional. Mulhern said his decision likely won’t be ready for a couple of weeks.

Bobrow said police “affirmatively withheld” crucial information from his client. If Huber Young knew that his niece was dead, Bobrow said, his client might not have agreed to waive his rights and speak with police.

Huber Young did not understand the seriousness of his situation, Bobrow argued. The young man asked police several times whether his family was safe, Bobrow said, and whether he was going to be able to go home. Bobrow said legal decisions in New Jersey and Montana, as well as federal law, advise police against interviewing defendants who aren’t aware of the charges against them.

“The connotation of responding to questions about what happened completely changes if somebody thinks they’re going home on bail, versus if someone has been told, ‘By the way, your niece is dead and you’re likely being charged with murder,’ ” Bobrow said.

However, prosecutors pointed out, Huber Young had not yet been charged when he spoke with police.

Leonard Bolton, one of the detectives who interviewed Huber Young, testified Tuesday that he didn’t know what the charges would be (although he said he suspected that, in the very least, Huber Young could face charges for reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon).

Bolton and retired detective Corey Pike, who also interviewed Huber Young, said Tuesday they were never dishonest with the defendant. Both officers said they were within their rights in May 2022 to avoid answering Huber Young’s questions about the status of his family.

Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin warned that a ruling in Huber Young’s favor could create an “entirely new standard” that would jeopardize criminal cases that rely on confessions.

“We don’t want defendants tailoring their stories to the evidence,” Robbin said in court. “We want them to give their version of the facts – that’s what Mr. Huber Young gave.”

Robbin also questioned whether Huber Young should have been surprised that his niece died.

“He knew that he had taken a firearm and shot it at members of his family,” she said. “If he didn’t think that death was a likely result of that, I don’t think detectives had to explain that to him.”

Yet they did, Robbin added – at one point in the interview, Huber Young told the detectives that he aimed at his brother’s chest before shooting, but that he never intended to kill him.

Robbin said that the detectives had pointed out “when you aim a gun at someone … they might die.”

Bobrow suggested Tuesday his client was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder when he agreed to speak with detectives. Bobrow said his client displayed a “range” of emotions, crying at some points in his interview and occasionally hitting his head against the table.

Eric Drogin, a clinical and forensic psychiatrist that Bobrow called Tuesday, said he has evaluated Huber Young twice and reviewed a video of his police interview. Drogin did not diagnose Huber Young with PTSD but said it’s possible that he was displaying symptoms when he spoke with the detectives. Drogin said he considered the shooting a possible traumatic event.

But for most of the interview, the detectives said Huber Young was cogent and rational.

Robbin said that Huber Young only spent “less than a minute crying” because he couldn’t call his girlfriend.

She said that most of the time, his head was only against the table so he could take a drag from his vape pen.