Tuesday, November 09, 2004 - Bangor Daily News
JACKIE FARWELL, OF THE NEWS STAFF
LEVANT - A local hunter died Monday evening as the result of
a shooting in the woods off the Wagner Road. James Griffin Jr.,
21, of Levant was pronounced dead shortly after game wardens
responded to the 5 p.m. call, according to Sgt. Patrick Devlin
of the Maine Warden Service. Devlin would not specify whether
the shooting was accidental, though he did say Griffin was not
hunting alone.
"He was dressed in hunting clothes," Devlin said Monday
night. "There were other people on scene."
The incident is the first fatal hunting-related shooting in
Maine this season, Devlin said.
No hunting fatalities were reported last year, though five people
sustained hunting-related injuries.
Devlin declined to say whether Griffin was hunting after dark,
which is prohibited under Maine law.
Game wardens planned to continue their investigation through
the night Monday, focusing on an area one mile into the woods
off the Wagner Road, a dirt road off Route 222. As of 10 p.m.,
no one had been taken into custody in connection with the incident,
Devlin said.
Detectives with the State Police Criminal Investigation Division
also are involved in the investigation, he said.
The state Attorney General's Office was contacted Monday regarding
the shooting, and Griffin's body was transported to the state
medical examiner's office in Augusta for an autopsy, he said.
Bangor Publishing Company
