A dispute over a woman apparently led to a violent confrontation between two men at a Buxton residence early last week, according to a Maine State Police affidavit released Tuesday.
The affidavit, filed in York County Superior Court by state police Detective Corey Pike, provides new details about the circumstances that led up to the Aug. 6 shooting at 58 Old Orchard Road. Lincoln Kimball, 27, of Hollis was severely wounded by shotgun pellets and may lose an eye as a result, according to Pike.
On Monday night, Buxton police arrested Kimball’s alleged assailant, Brandon H. Lasante, 19, of Buxton on charges of attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault. Pike’s affidavit suggests that Lasante was stalking the woman Kimball was dating.
Lasante was being held Tuesday night at the York County Jail on $20,000 cash bail or $100,000 surety, according to his attorney, Tim Zerillo of Portland. Zerillo said he and his law partner, Mike Whipple, have not ruled out arguing that their client acted in self-defense. Lasante made a brief initial appearance Tuesday afternoon in York County Superior Court in Alfred, but did not enter a plea.
“It’s an interesting case and Brandon is looking forward to having his day in court,” Zerillo said Tuesday in a telephone interview. He declined to comment further on the charges his client is facing.
According to Pike’s affidavit, Lasante told state police that he and Kimball had been dating the same woman, identified in court documents as McKenna Matwyko. Pike did not provide Matwyko’s age or place of residence.
Pike interviewed Matwyko the day after the shooting and she told him that she was Kimball’s girlfriend. She also said Lasante had been sending Kimball “harassing text messages via cellphone,” Pike wrote. “Matwyko said Lasante has been harassing and stalking her for about a month and has been sending her harassing messages as well.”
The affidavit says that Matwyko told Pike that Lasante “will sit outside of her work all night and when she tries to get into her vehicle to leave he will try to get her into his truck with him.”
She recently got a temporary protection from harassment order against Lasante, according to Pike. “Matwyko believes the protection order has made things worse,” the detective wrote.
The affidavit states that during the two weeks preceding the shooting, Lasante had been doing “burnouts” – squealing his tires – in front of Kimball’s apartment in Hollis. On the Friday night before the shooting, Matwyko said, she was at Kimball’s apartment and “Lasante was out front doing burnouts.”
In his affidavit, Pike said Kimball told him that the dispute escalated on the morning of Saturday, Aug. 5, when Lasante kept driving by his apartment and doing burnouts in the road. Kimball said he confronted Lasante and they yelled at each other.
Kimball remembers Lasante saying, “You started a (expletive) war, buddy,” the affidavit states.
Kimball told Pike that when he returned early Sunday morning from a party, he discovered a broken window at his apartment as well as on his truck.
“Kimball said he knew it was Lasante who had done the damage,” Pike wrote. Kimball then told the state police detective that he broke a cinder block in his driveway and placed two pieces of it in his car. He drove to Lasante’s home and “intended to damage Lasante’s property because Lasante had damaged his property,” Pike wrote.
A confrontation between the men took place in the front yard of Lasante’s home in Buxton around 2:30 a.m. on Aug. 6. Lasante claims the encounter started when a chunk of cement came through the window in his home, according to the affidavit. Lasante told police he went outside with a shotgun and fired two or three warning shots.
“Lasante said he was scared by the object that came through his window,” according to an interview that state police Detective Christopher Farley conducted with him. Lasante told Kimball to get off his property, but Kimball went to his car before coming back toward Lasante, according to the affidavit.
“It was at this point Lasante said he fired the shotgun from his hip at Kimball, striking Kimball,” the affidavit said. “Lasante knew he hit Kimball because Kimball’s head went down and he turned and stumbled toward his vehicle, a grey Saab, stopping at one point and then crawling in the roadway.”
Kimball suffered wounds to his eye, neck and abdomen. State police detectives recovered five shotgun shell casings from the Buxton property, according to Pike.
Lasante called 911 to report that he had shot someone.
Pike said the home is owned by Lasante’s father, Raymond Lasante.
Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:
dhoey@pressherald.com
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