LEWISTON — A 15-year-old boy will remain in custody for at least another week after being charged in a shooting that injured a woman in her Lewiston home Friday night.
Caden Labbe, 15, of Auburn denied the charge of theft of a firearm, which was owned by his mother.
During a Tuesday teleconference with the youth, an 8th District Court judge found there was probable cause to charge him with the crime, which would be a Class B felony if he were charged as an adult.
Labbe will remain at Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, where he has been held since he was taken into custody.
Prosecutors agreed with Labbe’s attorney that he could be transferred to an approved residential facility. On May 7, if he’s still at the youth center, he’s expected to be back before a judge who will revisit his detention, according to Assistant District Attorney Molly Butler Bailey.
According to a police affidavit, a woman was shot at 124 College St. The bullet that struck her in her apartment first passed through a bedroom window frame, then through her body, over the beds in which her two children were lying, through a sheet hanging over a closet, through two layers of sheetrock and out an exterior wall.
The woman was taken to Central Maine Medical Center where she was treated for an injury and released.
Police found a 9 mm shell casing across the street from the woman’s home.
A witness called police to say he’d heard about the shooting and said his friend had recently left his home with a gun to “settle a beef,” according to the affidavit. The caller believed his friend, Labbe, might be the shooter.
An officer in the area of the shooting spotted two males. As he approached them, one fled. The other, Jordan T. Bunting, 22, of 134 College St., gave police the false name of Brandon Santos, according to the affidavit. He identified Labbe and was released.
As midnight approached, a dispatcher gave officers Labbe’s location. Police found Bunting and Labbe at Labbe’s sister’s home and took them to the station to be interviewed.
Bunting told police he had been with Labbe the entire evening and that he never had a gun and hadn’t seen Labbe with one.
Bunting said they’d left Labbe’s mother’s home in Auburn earlier and walked around until they’d been approached by police. They hadn’t heard about a shooting or a gun, he said.
Police learned from the juvenile’s mother that her 9 mm handgun was missing. She said she suspected her son and Bunting had taken it when they were at her home earlier that evening. She filed a report with Auburn police.
Labbe told police he had shown Bunting where the key to his mother’s gun safe was, then later, after leaving her home, Bunting had shown Labbe the gun.
He said he handled the gun and Bunting had proposed selling it and splitting the money.
They took some drugs and got some snacks, Labbe told police. At one point, while walking on College Street, Labbe said Bunting “was messing with the gun.” Then “he saw (Bunting) fire the gun and hit a house,” according to the affidavit.
The two ran and “split up,” Labbe told police.
They agreed to meet up later at Labbe’s sister’s home. Labbe said he saw a cop and fled because he had some marijuana on him. He said he believed Bunting had gotten rid of the gun.
Labbe told police he later learned the house that the bullet had struck was where a friend of his lived, but said the two hadn’t always been friends. He said he believed Bunting had fired the gun at the house accidentally.
Bunting was arrested and charged with theft by unauthorized taking, a Class B felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and reckless conduct with a firearm, a Class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. Prosecutors also charged Bunting with failure to give correct name, a misdemeanor.
The gun wasn’t recovered, police said.
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