AUGUSTA — The son of a man killed during a May shootout with police in Belgrade has been indicted on charges of attempting to murder a sheriff’s deputy and reckless conduct with a firearm.
A grand jury on Friday returned the indictment against Scott Allen Bubar, 40, formerly of Belgrade. Bubar is accused of attempting to kill Sgt. Jacob Pierce of the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office.
An indictment is not a determination of guilt, but it indicates that there is enough evidence to proceed with formal charges and a trial.
The aggravated attempted murder charge is a Class A offense and carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison.
Bubar’s father, Roger Bubar, 65, died from gunshot wounds, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The incident took place at a mobile home at 1003 Oakland Road, which is also Route 11, near the Oakland town line.
Scott Bubar was wounded by a single gunshot, according to a May 22 email sent Tim Feeley, then a spokesman for the Maine Attorney General’s Office, which investigates all officer-involved shootings. During that call, Pierce “is reported to have shot back when fired upon outside the Roger Bubar residence,” Feeley wrote. He also said there would be no more comment until the investigation was complete.
While the court’s file does not indicate who shot Roger Bubar, defense attorney Lisa Whittier, who is representing Scott Bubar, said Monday, “My reading of the discovery is the cops shot Roger. The cops also shot my client.”
She said Scott Bubar will be entering pleas of not guilty when he is arraigned on the indictment.
Bubar had been free on $1,000 unsecured bail on the prior complaint that charged him with reckless conduct with a firearm.
In a motion filed Monday seeking to have Bubar’s bail revoked, Kennebec County Deputy District Attorney Paul Cavanaugh described the May 19 shooting scene: “Scott Bubar and his father Roger were inside a trailer from which shots were fired at law enforcement officers. In the responding gunfire, Roger was regretfully killed and Scott wounded.”
Cavanaugh also noted that on Friday Brunswick Police officers arrested Bubar at his residence there on charges that he violated his bail conditions by having illegal drugs and alcohol in his residence. Cavanaugh wrote that officers found alcohol, needles and empty suboxone strips at Bubar’s residence.
Bubar was initially taken to Cumberland County jail, but Cavanaugh asked that he be brought to Kennebec County for an initial appearance on the probation violation motion.
In the shooting incident, an affidavit filed by Kennebec Sheriff’s Office Detective Michael Bickford said neighbors called for help at 9:35 p.m. that day saying they heard fighting and the son beating on his father’s car.
The caller then reported hearing a gunshot a few minutes later.
Pierce arrived and said two people inside the mobile home at the Bubar residence at 1003 Oakland Road had barricaded the house and that one person with a shotgun or rifle broke a window and threatened to shoot. Pierce also said he heard one individual refer to “going down in a blaze of glory.”
After more gunshots at about 10:25 p.m., a woman called 911 saying she was bedridden inside the home and that she knew Scott Bubar was shot and bleeding badly and that Roger Bubar was not responding to her.
Scott Bubar had surgery for the injury at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston and was “under 24/7 guard, as he has shown he is a danger to the public and law enforcement,” Kennebec County Sheriff Ken Mason wrote shortly after the incident.
On May 30, Justice Michaela Murphy heard from a Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office detective 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.”
At that hearing, Kennebec Sheriff’s Office Detective John Bourque said the woman in the home, Jenny Shorey, who was identified as Roger Bubar’s girlfriend, told police she saw Scott Bubar with a shotgun pointing down a hallway and possibly threatening to shoot Roger Bubar.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
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