Share and Follow
A man from Maine is facing murder charges after allegedly shooting his girlfriend multiple times in their Farmington residence, later asserting the shooting was unintentional.
According to Maine State Police, a distress call was received around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday following the incident. Emergency teams transported 23-year-old Makayla Rose Desantis to MaineHealth Franklin Hospital. Subsequently, she was airlifted to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she succumbed to her injuries.
The woman’s 24-year-old boyfriend, Austin Doucette, was taken into custody the following evening.
Details from the case affidavit reveal that Desantis sustained two gunshot wounds to the chest, with investigators discovering three shell casings in their condo, as reported by WMTW.
Doucette reportedly informed a paramedic that his firearm had accidentally discharged, claiming Desantis was struck by a single shot. During two separate 911 calls, he expressed disbelief over the incident, stating, “I [had] a gunshot go off” and apologizing to Desantis. In a subsequent call, he told the dispatcher his girlfriend was wounded accidentally, emphasizing, “I would never do this” and expressing his fear of incarceration.
Doucette put Desantis into a car and attempted to drive to a hospital, the affidavit said, calling his father and saying he was being chased by police, according to another 911 call placed by the father’s girlfriend. She told the dispatcher that Doucette said that something had happened to Desantis and he was going to kill himself. The father told him not to do that, and the girlfriend hung up her 911 call when she was told police had stopped him.
An ambulance took Desantis to the hospital from there.
Meanwhile, officers went back to the condo, where they found the spent shell casings from a .45 caliber handgun, which they found on the couch. The slide on the gun was locked to the rear and the magazine was lying next to the gun. In addition to the three spent casings, a round that had not been fired was on the couch.
The affidavit said that one round went through the coffee table and the floor, damaging the ceiling of the unit below. Investigators were unable to find that bullet. Another bullet went through a pillow on the couch and into the back of the sofa That bullet was found in the couch stuffing. A third bulletwas recovered from the floor behind the couch after it went through another pillow.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled DeSantis’s death a homicide by multiple gunshot wounds. The medical examiner said she was shot twice in the chest.
Doucette’s attorney, Verne E. Paradie, repeated his client’s claims that he shot his girlfriend multiple times by accident.
“This appears to be a terrible accident and we hope to get more information in the near future regarding the circumstances of the situation,” Paradie said in a statement.