More than a week after a shooting rampage on I-295 near Yarmouth left three people wounded, the father of the two victims said he and his children are recovering from their injuries.
51-year-old Sean Halsey, of Bowdoinham, said his 25-year-old daughter, Paige, suffered damage to multiple organs but is in stable condition.
"Paige is still here," Halsey said Friday outside Maine Medical Center, where his family has been receiving treatment. "She is making fantastic strides. They removed her final chest tube today, and if that lung continues to behave itself she should be able to stay off of that. And hopefully we'll be coming home soon as well."
Halsey's 29-year-old son Justin was shot in the back and suffered tissue damage. He was released from the hospital a few days ago and is recovering at home.
Halsey was driving his children to the grocery store when he said he heard gunshots. Shrapnel hit his hand and broke a finger.
"[I] starting hearing some pops, and we weren't sure what it was. And then the back window exploded and I heard more...obviously they were gunshots," Halsey said. "I knew what that was, so I accelerated until I couldn't hear them anymore, pulled the car over and just tried to do everything I could to help my kids."
Paige, who was in the passenger seat, was shot on the lower side and back. Halsey said his daughter is in good spirits.
"She's been amazing," he said. "She's fought super hard, and she's excited to be able to go home and be with everybody at home."
Halsey said he and his family are trying to make sense of what happened, and why they were randomly caught in the crossfire on the interstate.
34-year-old Joseph Eaton confessed to shooting at random cars on I-295 last Tuesday. As the rampage began near Yarmouth, police had just discovered four bodies at a house in Bowdoin. Police have charged Eaton with killing his parents, Cynthia and David Eaton, and their family friends, Bob and Patricia Eger. Eaton has not yet been charged for the shootings on the interstate.
"There's a lot of questions that have to be answered about what happened and how he was released in that condition," Halsey said. "I don't really know much. I've never heard his name before that day. Just the irony of what he did before shooting on the highway is like two-and-a-half, three miles from our house, and then we're there and he's there at the same time, it's just a coincidence that nobody can explain. No idea."
Halsey's own father, who he said had been in declining health for several months, passed away Monday night.
"The coincidence of the timing has been so hard to understand," said Halsey, who added that he's been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from the community.
A Go Fund Me campaign has raised nearly $12,000 on the family's behalf.
