FREEPORT — A father and son were found shot to death Tuesday at a Durham Road home, in an apparent murder-suicide, said Maine State Police spokesman Steve McCausland.

“It appears the dad shot his son and then turned the gun on himself,” McCausland said.

State Police Sgt. Chris Harriman said the bodies were found at about 10 a.m. by the wife and mother of the victims, after one of the men didn’t show up at work Tuesday morning.

The type of gun used in the alleged murder-suicide was not immediately available.

Freeport Police Lt. Susan Nourse said there have not been “any (prior) incidents at the residence; no (prior) cause for concern.”

The state’s Major Crime Unit truck was on scene late Tuesday morning as detectives wearing blue gloves and cloth footies over their shoes entered the two-story gray house across Route 136 from the Burr Cemetery. Five cars were parked in the driveway behind police tape.

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On the other side of the road, relatives and neighbors hugged each other and wiped away tears as police came over intermittently to interview them. Reporters’ requests to talk to the family members were declined.

Jim Morrissey, of Beech Hill Road, which runs parallel to the side of the home, said he didn’t hear anything this morning and that he didn’t know the residents, but would see them outside as he drove by on Durham Road.

“I would see them out gardening. They did a lot of gardening,” he said. “There was always a lot of cars in the driveway.”

These deaths are the second and third domestic violence deaths in the area in the last few months.

Andrew Leighton, 46, is currently in Cumberland County Jail, charged with shooting his mother, Shirley Leighton, 68, on May 3, at the Falmouth home where they both lived.

According to a police affidavit, Leighton told investigators that he shot his mother as she tried to call Spring Harbor, a psychiatric hospital in Westbrook, to have him committed.

He is awaiting results of a mental competency evaluation.

Will Graff can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 123 or wgraff@theforecaster.net. Follow Will on Twitter: @W_C_Graff.


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