SOUTH PARIS — A Mexico man told police he fatally shot his stepson Saturday because he was tired of being bullied and harassed and feared for his and his family’s life.

Thomas B. Tellier Oxford County Sheriff’s Office photo

Thomas B. Tellier, 52, appeared in court Monday on a charge of intentional or knowing murder. He is being held without bail pending a probable cause and bail hearing.

According to an affidavit filed by Maine State Police Detective Cpl. Michael J. Chavez, Nicholas Trynor, 27, was shot twice in the chest and arms with a Mossberg 500 pump-action, 12-gauge shotgun at the family’s home at 32 Intervale Ave., Mexico, shortly before 1 p.m. Saturday.

Trynor was pronounced dead at the scene.

Tellier told police he had argued with Trynor earlier that day because Tellier’s 5-year-old son, Tommy, who has autism, had hit Trynor.

In response, Trynor had slapped the boy and took umbrage at having been struck.

Advertisement

Tellier and Trynor continued to argue, Tellier said. There was a lull in the dispute when both men went to their respective bedrooms.

Tellier said Trynor later approached him in the hallway, still upset and in a rage when Tellier shot him.

He told police that Trynor was “controlling, argumentative and does not treat ‘Little Tommy’ properly.”

Tellier said things had escalated that morning from the time Trynor had awakened angry after a tripped breaker had shut off power to the home.

After the boy hit Trynor, he said to Tellier, “No one’s gonna hit me, you know, next time it happens … I’m gonna come after you.”

Tellier said he’d told Trynor to go back to his room. Tellier said Trynor was, “in that rage.”

Advertisement

He said: “When (Trynor) gets like that, there’s no … you can’t control him. He does what he wants.”

Tellier told police, “I went into the room, my bedroom, I grabbed the shotgun.”

He said: “I guess the, just the stress and the fear of … I’m not a small man. But, you know, how do you defend yourself when you’re sleeping? Or, you know, defend your family if you’re hours away?”

The shotgun was loaded with the safety on and a round already in the chamber, Tellier told police, according to the affidavit.

“Then I went down the hallway,” Tellier said. “I was actually going to try and get him out of the house. And then he threatened me again and I pulled the trigger.”

Trynor had been in the hallway, a cigar in one hand.

Advertisement

Maine State Police detectives arrest Thomas Tellier on Sunday in connection with the fatal shooting of his stepson, Nicholas Trynor, 27, in Mexico. WGME photo

Asked by police whether Trynor appeared to have been armed, Tellier said he couldn’t tell, but hadn’t seen a weapon.

He said Trynor kept a collection of knives in his room.

Tellier said he grabbed his gun because the last time Trynor had been in a rage, he’d had a knife. He said he didn’t put any thought into shooting Trynor, that it just happened, according to the affidavit.

“All I thought about was trying to save us,” he said.

He said he thought Trynor was going to physically harm him.

Had he and his wife, Jessica, simply kicked Trynor out of the house, they would have had to worry about him breaking in and killing them in the middle of the night or burning down their home, Tellier said, according to the affidavit.

Advertisement

He said he was afraid Trynor would follow through with his many threats.

But Tellier said his mind had been blank when he pulled the trigger of the shotgun.

“It just happened,” he said.

Jessica Tellier, 46, told police that Trynor suffered from “anxiety, depression, anger issues and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.”

They had been trying to get him help, she said.

When Trynor got mad, he’d hit things and make threats, she said.

Advertisement

Jessica Tellier said her husband could usually calm Trynor down and get him to go to his room. She had been outside when she’d heard the two arguing. Then she heard a shot, followed by Trynor yelling, “Stop!” A second shot, also was followed by Trynor yelling, “Stop!”

She told police she didn’t believe Trynor was capable of hurting or killing her husband, according to the affidavit.

Asked whether she believed Tellier needed to get the gun and shoot Trynor, she said, “No.”

She said Trynor’s behavior that day was normal for him.

When her husband refused to call 911, she told the dispatcher: “My husband just shot my son!”

Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Mark Flomenbaum, who conducted an autopsy Sunday, said pellets from the shotgun shells had perforated Trynor’s chest, lungs, diaphragm and heart. Cause of death was blood loss due to lung damage, he said.

Lewiston defense attorney George Hess was appointed Monday to represent Tellier. Hess appeared with Tellier by videoconference from Oxford County Jail in South Paris for Monday’s court hearing.

Tellier was not asked to enter a plea. Felonies, including intentional or knowing murder, in Maine must be presented to a grand jury for indictment before the case can proceed to trial, unless waived by the defendant.

Murder is punishable in Maine by a prison sentence of 25 years to life.

Related Headlines

Comments are not available on this story.