PORTLAND, Maine — Sean Halsey and his two children were on their way to get groceries when their car was hit by a hail of gunfire at 10:30 a.m. on April 19 on Interstate 295 in Yarmouth.
“We started hearing some pops, and we weren’t sure what it was,” Halsey of Bowdoinham told reporters outside Maine Medical Center on Friday. “Then the back window exploded, and we heard more. They obviously were gunshots. So I accelerated until I couldn’t hear them anymore.”
Halsey’s son, Justin Halsey, 29, was shot in the back. His daughter, Paige Halsey, 25, was shot in her side. Sean Halsey’s hand was wounded from shrapnel flying around the car.
Justin and Sean Halsey have since been released from the hospital. But Sean Halsey said his daughter, though out of intensive care, has a long road to recovery ahead of her.
The morning of the shooting, police took Joseph Eaton, 34, into custody between mile marker 15 and 17 on I-295. Police say he later confessed to killing four people in Bowdoin, including his parents, then shot at the Halseys’ vehicle on the highway because he believed he was being followed by police.
This story will be updated.