MATINICUS ISLAND, Maine (AP) — It was a year ago that a long-simmering feud among lobstermen erupted in gunfire 20 miles out to sea on Maine’s Matinicus Island, exposing islanders’ unofficial system of justice aimed at protecting fishing grounds from outsiders.
Both the man who wielded the gun and the victim who was shot in the neck are back to lobstering this summer, but emotions remain raw on the island outpost.
Few people want to discuss it openly. Sari Bunker, whose husband Vance Bunker fired the near-fatal shot, said talking about it would be like “picking a scab off a wound.”
Weston Ames, whose half-brother was shot, is still angry about Bunker’s acquittal by a mainland jury. He says it was “almost as bad as getting shot at.”
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