WALDOBORO — No one one other than a man, who died, and his girlfriend, who was wounded, were involved in a shooting over the weekend at their home on Route 220, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

McCausland wouldn’t say today whether one or both of them fired the shots that killed Norman Benner, 34, and wounded Arline Lawless, 25, who is in fair condition at Maine Medical Center.

Benner’s mother, Dawn Benner, said she and her daughter found the body of her son, who was dead, and Lawless, his girlfriend since April, in the bedroom of her home on Monday morning and called police.

Dawn Benner said her son had been talking about breaking up with Lawless for a week before the shooting. She said he lived at his parents’ house on Route 220 in Friendship but would often spend the night at the house where Lawless lived.

She said she dropped her son off there on Saturday afternoon and he told her he’d be calling in a hour for a ride home. She never heard from him that night, and called him Sunday, but he didn’t return her calls.

Police have disclosed little information about the circumstances around the shooting, saying they are still talking to people and reviewing evidence.

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According to McCausland, Lawless was shot in the face. She is expected to survive.

An autopsy on Benner was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon at the state Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta.

McCausland said police have “a very good idea of what happened,” but will not make the details public yet.

McCausland originally said Benner was 32 but later corrected his age.


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