The Chelsea man who died of gunshot wounds outside a West Gardiner home earlier this month was struck by bullets to his head, neck and abdomen, the Office of Chief Medical Examiner announced Monday morning.
State police have been investigating the shooting outside a home on Yeaton Drive early on the morning of June 17, which left 41-year-old James Haskell dead.
But police have not announced whether they’ll file charges in the case and plan to do more interviews with people who were at the scene of the shooting, Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine State Police, said on Monday. Investigators will consider the medical examiner’s report as they analyze the evidence, he added.
Haskell died of “gunshot wounds to the head, neck and abdomen,” an administrator for the medical examiner’s office said in an email Monday morning. He added, “I don’t have any further information to release at this time.”
On June 17, Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office deputies went to the scene of the shooting at 9 Yeaton Drive in response to a 911 call at about 2:50 a.m. State police detectives joined them there later.
Two days later, the Kennebec County Sheriff’s log indicated, “Caller reports he shot someone.”
A number of people were at the home for a gathering at the time of the shooting and all have cooperated with police, according to McCausland. No one has been taken into custody.
State police say they have interviewed the person who did the shooting, but they have not identified the person or said whether he or she will be charged.
Yeaton Drive is just over the Farmingdale line in West Gardiner and directly across the Hallowell-Litchfield Road from Fuller’s Market.
Haskell’s step-mother, Allison Haskell, of North Waterboro, gave an interview with WCSH-6 TV, saying that while she had not seen her stepson in some time, he was working to get his life together.
She said he had struggled with drugs from a young age but that his death was not related to that.
“We loved him and he’s gone,” Haskell said on camera.
She did not respond to a request to talk to the Kennebec Journal sent via Facebook. A phone number for her and one that appeared to be for Haskell’s brother, who formerly lived in Augusta, did not work.
Public records show that Haskell had a lengthy criminal history and did extensive time in prison.
At age 23, he pleaded guilty in Kennebec County Superior Court to charges of gross sexual assault, burglary and reckless conduct, all of which occurred June 19, 1998, in Winthrop, where he lived at the time.
For the gross sexual assault, the most serious crime, he was ordered to serve 16 years in prison.
Jody Breton, deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Corrections, said Haskell was released from prison on Aug. 31, 2012.
In April 2013, he was sentenced to six months in jail for eluding an officer and operating a vehicle without a license two months earlier in Farmingdale. His address at the time was listed in North Waterboro.
James Haskell also was indicted on a charge of violation of sex offender registration that occurred March 14-May 8, 2014, in Gardiner, where he was living at the time. He was sentenced to serve nine months and a day behind bars for that offense.
Charles Eichacker — 621-5642
Twitter: @ceichacker
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