LEWISTON — Kerry Hebert was listed in serious condition at a local hospital Thursday night, recovering from wounds he suffered when he was shot Wednesday afternoon on his property in Starks.

Hebert, 57, was airlifted to Central Maine Medical Center by a LifeFlight of Maine helicopter Wednesday afternoon.

“He is post-surgical,” CMMC Nurse Supervisor Peggy Rushton said Thursday night.

The incident occurred outside Hebert’s home on Mayhew Road, police said. Hebert was airlifted from the Madison Area Memorial High School parking lot in Madison.

Erin Norton, a family friend, was with Jenn Hebert when she was told her husband had been shot. “The officer said, ‘Your husband has been shot and he has been airlifted to the hospital,'” Norton said.

She traveled with Jenn Hebert to CMMC after the shooting. “We saw that he was OK, that he was going to make it,” Norton said.

She has been in contact with the family since the incident. “He had surgery (Thursday) afternoon,” she said of Hebert. “By 4 o’clock, he was in recovery.”

Hebert is on the Board of Assessors for the town of Starks, according to Robert Worthley, who lives in Strong and does property assessments for the Starks Town Office. “I found him very professional and easy to work with,” Worthley said of Hebert.

Jenn Hebert, 45, the town clerk in Starks, told the Portland Press Herald that she was at a Halloween party at the Town Office with the couple’s two children when the incident occurred Wednesday afternoon.

Though police had not charged anyone in the shooting, Jenn Hebert told the Press Herald that she believed the incident constituted assault.

Speaking to the Press Herald, she relayed the story told by her husband: Hebert confronted two men hunting on his property; there was a verbal altercation and one of the hunters poked Hebert with his gun, at which point the weapon discharged.

“This was an unprovoked, unarmed assault,” she told that newspaper.

Police confirmed Hebert was shot and have identified the shooter.

Chief Deputy Dale Lancaster of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department told the Press Herald that the “reason no one has been charged is because this is a unique case — unique in the fact that’s it’s not clear-cut.”

He also told the Press Herald: “It was a group of hunters and a homeowner, although this is not a hunting accident. This is more of a dispute between individuals.”

Lancaster further said the investigation could take a few weeks to complete, because the police were investigating competing stories as to how the incident occurred.

Maine State Police assisted with the investigation because they were “uncertain of the extent of injury,” Maine Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said Thursday.

McCausland said he believed the Maine Warden Service would continue to work with the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department to investigate the shooting, as it was “a hunting-related incident.” However, he added, “I don’t believe the actual shooting was hunting-related.”

It was unclear Thursday night if, or when, charges would be filed in the shooting. Members of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department could not be reached for comment.