LEWISTON — A Massachusetts man was charged with attempted murder Friday after firing a gun while chasing a man down Bartlett Street, Lewiston police Lt. David St. Pierre said.

Police arrested 32-year-old Nathaniel D. Ashwood, of Springfield, Massachusetts, and charged him with attempted murder, robbery, reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and being a felon in possession of a firearm, according to St. Pierre.

Ashwood, who was charged in a double stabbing in Springfield in 2018, was being held on $500,000 bail.

The first calls came in shortly before 5 p.m. as gunfire erupted in the area of 129 Bartlett St. Nobody was struck but early reports were that several shots were fired and that a single shot had passed through a window and into an apartment building.

When police first arrived, they got into a brief foot chase with Ashwood, who had been living at an apartment on nearby Pierce Street. A short time later, it was reported that the suspect had been taken into custody and that the gun had been secured.

Later Friday, Ashwood was being held at the Androscoggin County Jail in Auburn on bail set at $500,000.

Police said Ashwood has previous felony convictions in Massachusetts, including several for assaults.

In the 2018 stabbing, he was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder after knifing two men during a fight at his girlfriend’s apartment. At the time, Ashwood had already served prison sentences for previous assaults, according to court records.

After the Friday night shooting, police shut down a section of Bartlett Street between Walnut and Birch streets as they continued to investigate. Several witnesses were questioned and investigators searched for evidence on the ground where the shots were fired. The street remained closed an hour after the shooting was reported, with dozens of onlookers cramming in on street corners and sidewalks to watch police work.

The Friday night shooting occurred in the same area where a man was shot less than three weeks ago. On Friday, the shots were reported in the area of 129 Bartlett St., just a couple buildings down from the area where George Simmons, 23, of Auburn, was shot in the side May 27 outside a building at 147 Bartlett St.

Simmons survived his wounds but his shooter was not caught.

With several shooting incidents having occurred in the same stretch of Bartlett Street throughout the month of May, police had put extra patrols on the streets in an attempt to combat the violence. One woman was arrested last month and charged with reckless conduct with a firearm.

After the Friday night shooting, Lewiston police said anyone who may have witnessed the incident should contact Detective Joey Brown at 207-513-3001 ext. 3322.

 

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