AUGUSTA — A Belgrade man was in court Tuesday to face a charge that he recklessly used a gun during a police-involved shooting that left his father dead, even as officials wouldn’t tell a concerned judge basic details about the tense standoff such as who allegedly shot whom.
Justice Michaela Murphy heard from a Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office detective Tuesday to determine whether there was probable cause to charge Scott Allen Bubar with reckless conduct with a firearm. Murphy ultimately determined the state met the minimum probable cause threshold “by the very thinnest criteria.”
Read the affidavit
Bubar, 40, appeared in court via video from the Kennebec County jail in Augusta to face that charge in connection with a May 19 officer-involved shooting in Belgrade in which his father was killed. Roger Bubar, 65, died from gunshot wounds, and Scott Bubar was wounded by a single gunshot, according to police.
Scott Bubar identified himself for Justice Michaela Murphy on Tuesday, and then defense attorney Lisa Whittier said she could not determine who allegedly shot whom according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Murphy said she could not determine that either, and she asked the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Alisa Ross, to present more information to support the charge against the younger Bubar.
She addressed Ross directly, saying: “In all candor, it seems that you would also recognize this affidavit is a bit thin as it pertains to Mr. Bubar because it does not indicate any individualized conduct on his part except being in the residence, being with his father.”
Murphy added that the only specific allegation in the affidavit involving Scott Bubar was striking his father’s car before the shooting incident reportedly took place.
“There’s no indication he was holding a gun. He may have been. There’s nothing in the affidavit that says that. There’s no information in the affidavit that says he made any threats,” Murphy said. “There is an indication that somebody is seen in the window with a gun,” she said, but added that three people were inside the home. “What’s lacking here is some allegation against this individual.”
The three-page affidavit indicates it was signed at 2:19 a.m. May 20 by Justice William Stokes.
The Office of the Maine Attorney General is investigating the shooting incident because it involves a law enforcement officer.
The charge against Scott Bubar says he “did recklessly create a substantial risk of serious bodily injury to Roger Bubar, Jenny Shorey, (sheriff’s office Sgt.) Jacob Pierce or other people with the use of a firearm.” The charge against Scott Bubar is a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison, and Murphy told him Tuesday that she believes a conviction carries a minimum mandatory one-year in prison.
Whittier said Bubar was self-employed, and he said he did painting and working as a personal care aid for Shorey.
In court Tuesday, Ross said she would contact a detective from the sheriff’s office to testify; and in the meantime, Murphy took a recess.
When Bubar first appeared on the video monitor, two women — including one who later identified herself to the judge as Laurie Bubar, Scott Bubar’s sister — broke into tears while sitting on a bench in the courtroom and held on to one another. Later, a third woman with them said she had “nothing to say” to a reporter.
Bubar, who has close-cropped dark hair and wore an orange jail jumpsuit, showed no visible sign of injury.
But Whittier said Bubar was brought directly to the jail from the hospital on Sunday and was in pain and not getting his medications.
Murphy appointed Whittier to represent Bubar in the case. Scott Bubar’s next court hearing was scheduled for Aug. 10.
‘A BLAZE OF GLORY’
A police affidavit written by sheriff’s office Detective Michael Bickford — based partly on some statements by Pierce — and filed Tuesday at the Capital Judicial Center does not explain who shot whom. But the document does provide the most detail to date of the police response to the shooting.
It says police were sent at 9:35 p.m. that night to 1003 Oakland Road in Belgrade in response to reports of a fight between two men, with the son beating on the father’s car. It also says that the caller reported hearing a gunshot at 9:43 p.m., and that when Pierce arrived just before 11 p.m., he reported two people inside the home, barricading it.
Then Pierce reported seeing “an individual come to a window carrying a rifle or shotgun.” Pierce said the person was making threats and broke a window and threatened to shoot.
The affidavit states that at 11:07 p.m., Pierce says the two people inside are barricading doors and windows “and states one of the individuals made a reference to ‘going down in a blaze of glory.'”
More hollering from inside is reported 11 minutes later, and then gunshots, followed by two more rounds of gunshots. It also says that at the same time, “a female can be heard crying, also from inside the residence then a male screaming.”
The woman, who identified herself as Shorey, then called police to say someone is shot and she is bedridden in the living room.
“Shorey states ‘Scott’ has been shot but can be heard making noises,” Bickford wrote.
The woman also tells the Regional Communications Center dispatcher that “Scott claims he cannot move then stops answering questions or responding to her. A short time later Shorey reports Scott is bleeding badly and claims both Scott and Roger have been shot. Shorey states Roger is not responding to her and claims Scott is now yelling again.”
Previous reports indicated that at some point that evening, Pierce exchanged gunfire after he was fired upon outside the mobile home, according to the attorney general’s office.
Scott Bubar had been taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and was admitted for treatment. Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason said previously Bubar was under guard there around the clock.
‘SCARED RIGHT TO DEATH’
In the days after the standoff, holes could be seen in the windows and siding of the mobile home, and broken glass was strewn across the front doorway. A dented Ford Mustang was parked to one side of the yard, and a neighbor, John Short, told the Kennebec Journal that the younger of the two men had driven the red sports car into the side of the home before the gunfire started that night. Short didn’t know the name of the man, but thought he was a younger relative of Roger Bubar.
By Tuesday this week, the holes in the home were boarded up and the sports car was no longer parked on the property.
On Tuesday, Short said he was not aware of anyone staying in the home. He did not know Jenny Shorey, the woman who was in the mobile home — and who was identified in court as Roger Bubar’s girlfriend — when police arrived that night, and doesn’t think she’s living there any longer.
Short said he hasn’t heard anything about the fate of the home or the condition of Scott Bubar, and that uncertainty has been nerve-wracking for his family.
“We don’t know what’s happening,” he said. “My wife is scared right to death about being home alone.”
Pierce, of Fairfield, has been placed on paid administrative leave, according to Robert Devlin, administrator of Kennebec County. That’s also standard procedure for officers involved in shootings.
The Maine attorney general’s office is continuing to investigate his use of force and declined to comment further, a spokesman said Tuesday in an email.
LINGERING QUESTIONS
In court Tuesday, Ross eventually summoned Detective John Bourque, of the sheriff’s office, to testify to address Murphy’s lingering questions about probable cause to charge Scott Bubar. Bourque said he responded to the residence late on May 19 as backup and then set up a command post.
He said that when the tactical team entered the home, which belonged to Roger Bugar, they reported finding three people — one man who was shot, one who was dead and a woman, later identified as Shorey, in a bed.
Bourque said the investigation indicated that officers Pierce and Bacon arrived at the scene and found two men with firearms — one with a long gun, another with a handgun.
Bourque said Shorey told police she saw Scott Bubar with a shotgun pointing down a hallway and possibly threatening to shoot Roger Bubar.
Bourque also said gunshots were fired from the residence in the direction of Sgt. Jacob Pierce and another officer.
Whittier asked that if Shorey was bedridden in the living room, how did she see whom Scott Bubar was targeting?
“I didn’t hear you testify that at any time anyone saw Scott Bubar with a firearm,” Whittier said.
Bourque said Shorey told police she saw Scott Bubar with a weapon.
“Scott Bubar was shot,” Whittier said. “Is there any indication who shot him?”
“That’s still part of the ongoing investigation,” Bourque said.
“The information about Bubar pointing a gun at his father is not in this affidavit,” Whittier argued.
Ross said police still were piecing the incident together and she said the legal threshold for finding probable cause is low, and that one of the people alleged to be in danger was Shorey. She asked that Bubar’s bail be set at $2,500 cash. She also said Scott Bubar had two prior convictions for operating under the influence, one in 2004 and one in 2003, but no felony conviction.
Whittier asked the judge to set an unsecured bail for Scott Bubar to allow him to get out.
She said that if the state met the probable cause threshold, “it’s by the very thinnest criteria.”
Murphy found there was cause to believe Scott Bubar had a firearm and was aiming it in the direction of his father.
Murphy set bail at $1,500 cash or $1,000 unsecured with a Maine Pre-trial Services contract that prohibits him from using alcohol, from possessing dangerous weapons, from returning to the residence where the shooting took place except for a single time with law enforcement to get his belongings, and from contact with Shorey.
Laurie Bubar at one point rose to tell the judge she hasn’t been able to speak with her brother, and she was directed to provide her phone number to jail officials. She also said she’d be able to put up $500 toward her brother’s bail.
Staff writer Charlie Eichacker contributed to this story.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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