AUBURN — A judge ordered a 21-year-old local man be held without bail at his initial court appearance Friday on a murder charge in connection to the fatal shooting of another man last weekend at the Walmart parking lot.

Police said Gage Dalphonse of 47 Crest Ave. shot Jean Fournier, 41, of Turner. Witnesses said Fournier was shot twice in the back after the two acquaintances had an argument.

A judge ordered Dalphonse held without bail pending a probable cause and bail hearing.

He was arrested Wednesday afternoon and has been held at Androscoggin County Jail. He had been released after questioning last weekend.

Police said Dalphonse shot Fournier on Saturday at the local Walmart after they saw each other in the local Walmart parking lot. He was taken to a Lewiston hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.

A medical examiner determined that Fournier died from gunshot wounds by homicide, police said.

Witnesses reported the two men argued in the parking lot and when Fournier turned to walk away, he was shot at least twice in the back. One witness reported that chance encounter escalated when Dalphonse insulted a woman who was with Fournier’s group at the store, and Fournier then came to her defense, asking Dalphonse to apologize.

That witness, who said she was Fournier’s girlfriend, told a reporter that she and Dalphonse had worked together and that he had threatened her in the past. The woman who he insulted, she said, was her niece.

Police said Fournier was unarmed when he was shot.

Dalphonse’s criminal history includes charges of assault and reckless conduct, both filed in the summer of 2018. The assault charge was dismissed after Dalphonse pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor reckless conduct charge. He was found guilty of that charge in February and ordered to pay a $300 fine.

Dalphonse has hired defense attorney Leonard Sharon to represent him.

This story will be updated.