AUGUSTA — The man who shot and killed a Lewiston man at an Augusta towing company in May will not be charged, officials said Thursday.

Tyler Morin, 36, was shot and killed  just before 11 a.m. on May 20 at Ready Road Service at 605 Riverside Drive in Augusta.

He was shot by Rob Drummond, 48, of Augusta, owner of Ready Road Service, according to Danna Hayes, spokesperson for the Office of the Maine Attorney General.

Hayes said the Maine State Police and the Attorney General’s Office have determined Drummond was acting in self-defense. They have finished their investigation into the shooting and said Drummond will not be charged with a crime.

Morin’s death was classified as a homicide by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which has determined he was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest.

Morin’s mother, Liz Morin, said Thursday she feels Drummond should be charged with a crime — possibly murder or manslaughter.

She said in the weeks following her son’s death, police told her he was shot in his car, through the windshield, while at the Ready Road Service yard. She said her son had told his ex-wife he was going to the tow yard to retrieve his car, a Dodge Charger.

“Do I want to see him charged with murder or manslaughter? I absolutely would,” Liz Morin said Thursday.

Officials at the scene, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation, said it appeared Morin was shot while attempting to recover a vehicle from the towing company’s impound lot, and might have nearly struck an employee with the vehicle.

Drummond could not be reached for comment and a message left for him at Ready Road Service was not returned Thursday.

Liz Morin said Drummond, a large man, must have had other options in the incident, other than shooting her son.

“I feel he should be charged with something because the gun was already drawn,” she said. “There was no reason to step in front of a car and murder somebody. I feel like there could have been other preventions.”

Morin said she was not there so she has no way of knowing whether Drummond was in fear for his life when he shot her son. She said it does not make sense to shoot somebody over a car.

“I’m going to let God be the judge, and he’ll be judged someday,” Liz Morin said of Drummond.

Liz Morin said officials told her Wednesday that Drummond would not be charged .

She said her son, the father to two children, was vibrant and outgoing, a big family man with an infectious smile who would give anyone the shirt off his back. She said his 11-year-old son is very upset, and his younger-than-2-year-old daughter has appeared to be looking for her father.

“He was very close to his children. Family meant everything to him,” Liz Morin said of her son. “Now, his kids are left without a father. That’s sad. He sure didn’t deserve to die.”

Morin had run-ins with police dating back to 2005, according to a background check with the Maine Department of Public Safety. Most recently, he faced misdemeanor-level charges in June 2021 of violating a protection from abuse order and violating conditions of release in Androscoggin County.

Shannon Moss, public information officer for the Maine Department of Public Safety, wrote in an email the Office of the Maine Attorney General had reviewed all investigative reports before determining Drummond had acted in self-defense when he shot Morin.

Augusta police also investigated the incident.

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