Lewiston man arrested and charged in Auburn Walmart shooting
Jun. 7—AUBURN — Police arrested a 19-year-old Lewiston man in connection with a shooting last week in the Walmart parking lot.
In a statement released to the media Monday, Deputy Police Chief Timothy Cougle said Sincere George, of 617 Main St., Lewiston turned himself over to local police detectives. Investigators had been in contact with George and his family over the weekend and were successful in coordinating his surrender.
Police had been seeking his whereabouts after a shooting about 9:20 p.m. June 3 at the Walmart Superstore on Mount Auburn Avenue that injured a 19-year-old man. The shooting followed a physical altercation, police said.
George and the shooting victim were known to each other.
Cougle said Monday the victim had been treated for his injuries and released from a Lewiston hospital.
A 16-year-old male was arrested June 4 and charged with elevated aggravated assault and reckless conduct with a firearm; both are felonies.
George also was charged with those two crimes.
In a police affidavit, Detective David Madore wrote that a witness had been with the victim when they were in the Walmart parking lot. A black car had passed them at the Turner Street entrance and later pulled up next to them in the lot where two men got out of the car.
The witness told police he and the victim had had issues with the passenger (a juvenile) in the car a couple of months earlier, but they'd believed the issues had been resolved.
The passenger approached the victim and said he'd heard the victim had been looking for him. The two engaged in a fist fight. the victim had the passenger in a headlock, but let him go after the passenger stopped resisting, according to the witness.
The driver of the black car returned his car and got a fanny pack that he tossed to the passenger, according to the witness, who said he then heard a "loud bang and saw the victim bleeding from the chest area, the witness told police.
In the affidavit, the detective said the victim told police that the passenger of the black car had said to him: "I heard your brother was looking for me." Then the passenger had "sucker punched" him in the face.
The two fought until the victim began to "choke out" the passenger before releasing him, believing the fight was finished.
The victim said the driver of the car handed the passenger a fanny pack, who retrieved a handgun from it and shot the victim from a distance of about one foot.
The driver and passenger then fled the scene by car, according to the victim. Police later identified the car as a black 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt.
George appeared Monday in 8th District Court in Lewiston via teleconference from Androscoggin County Jail. He was appointed a lawyer and a judge set bail at $10,000 in cash. If he's released on bail, he must have contact with neither the victim, the witness nor the juvenile named in the affidavit.
He also must not possess any dangerous weapons for which he could be searched at random.
