TURNER — A Turner man who called 911 Tuesday afternoon to report that he'd been shot multiple times remaints at Central Maine Medical Center after undergoing emergency surgery.

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Sun Journal Staff

Police investigate a shooting incident at the Saracens Motorcycle Club in Turner on Tuesday afternoon.

Bertrand Binette, 67, called emergency dispatchers at 2 p.m. to report that he'd been shot near his Route 4 home, which doubles as the Saracens Motorcycle Clubhouse.

Binette was taken to Central Maine Medical Center with four gunshot wounds, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police. He did not know the exact nature of Binette's wounds nor his condition Tuesday night.

"At this point, there's a high likelihood that he will survive," McCausland said.

A nursing supervisor at CMMC said Tuesday night that Binette was not a patient at the hospital.

McCausland said the investigation was a joint effort of troopers and detectives from the Maine State Police and deputies from the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Department. He said that authorities interviewed several people and collected evidence throughout the afternoon.

McCausland would not confirm early rumors that Binette returned fire or say whether investigators had a suspect.

"The circumstances of the shooting and who is responsible are being actively investigated by the state police and sheriff's office, and I expect that the investigation will continue tomorrow," McCausland said. "There are just some details we won't get into about this."

According to its Web site, the Saracens Motorcycle Club was incorporated in 1970. The club reports doing a lot of charity work for groups such as Good Shepherd Food-Bank in Auburn and helping sick children. Last year, the group completed a renovation project at the clubhouse that included a new roof and more space.

The group also has a questionable reputation, according to a 2001 report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Justice that addressed drug threats in Maine. The report listed the club as an "outlaw motorcycle gang" affiliated with the Hells Angels that actively distributes cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana throughout central and western Maine.

According to Web sources, the name "Saracen" originally referred to members of Muslim nomadic tribes along the Syrian borders of the Roman Empire during the period of the Crusades. They were resistance fighters attacking Crusaders. The ancient Greeks and Romans used the term "Saracen" for an Arab, and during the Middle Ages Europeans adopted the term for all Muslims.