Identities of Victims in Bowdoin Mass Shooting

34-year-old Joseph Eaton of Bowdoin is accused of killing four people and shooting three others in Yarmouth yesterday, April 18.

The Maine State Police this afternoon, April 19, released more information, including the identities of the deceased.

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at approximately 9:21 am, the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call from a family member requesting a check at a 1459 Augusta Road in Bowdoin. A family member who had not been able to reach anyone drove to the home to try and make contact. This family member entered the home and discovered a deceased person. Sheriff’s Deputies arrived at 9:40 am and found three more victims. Deceased in the house was homeowners 72-year-old Robert Eger and his wife 62-year-old Patricia Eger as well as 62-year-old Cynthia Eaton. Outside in the barn 66-year-old David Eaton was found deceased. 

Autopsies conducted at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office determined all four died of gun-shot wounds and all were ruled as homicides. Shortly after 10:30 a.m. Police from Yarmouth, Falmouth, and Cumberland Police Departments responded to Interstate 295 to support State Troopers with multiple people and vehicles being hit by gunfire. One northbound vehicle was struck by stray gunfire and three southbound vehicles were struck by gunfire in this incident. Three people were transported from the I-295 scenes to Maine Medical Center with gun-shot wounds. Transported from the Yarmouth scene was 51-year-old Sean Halsey and his two children, 29-year-old Justin Halsey, and 25-year-old Paige Halsey who are from Bowdoinham. Paige Halsey is still in critical condition. Sean and his son Justin received non-life-threatening injuries. During this time searches were conducted between Mile Marker 17 South and the Southbound off ramp at Exit 15.

In these searches, 34-year-old Joseph Eaton of Bowdoin was detained in a wooded area near the Exit 15 Southbound off ramp at 10:50 am. The vehicle being operated by Joseph Eaton was removed from the scene to be processed at a secondary location with the other involved vehicles. Eaton was transported to Maine Medical Center where he was medically cleared and then transported to the Portland Police Department where an interview was conducted. Eaton confessed to killing his parents and their friends in Bowdoin and believed that the vehicles he had shot on the interstate were police vehicles that were following him. Eaton was then transported to the Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset. He is being charged with four counts of murder and being held without bail. Further details of the interview will be released as this case proceeds in the court system.

Joseph Eaton was released from Windham Correctional Facility on April 14, 2023, after serving a sentence for Aggravated Assault.  Upon his release his mother Cynthia Eaton met him at the
prison and brought him to Bowdoin to stay with family friends Patricia and Robert Eger.

If anyone has information regarding these incidents, please call the Augusta Regional Communications Center at 207.624.7076 Option number 9.