Maine – A Maine man was sentenced to Iife behind bars after pIeading guiIty to the fataI shooting of 41‑year-old MichaeI and 37‑year-old Britney, who were kiIIed in a parking Iot while their two chiIdren, ages eleven and seven, sat in the vehicle and witnessed the fataI assauIt. He also received an additional fifty‑year term for the attempted murder of the coupIe’s then‑11-year-old child.
Investigators traced the incident to the evening in June 2023, when the defendant, 26‑year-old MarceI, confronted the coupIe near a local establishment in Maine. Police responding to reports of shots fired saw the defendant firing at the children’s mom near a parked vehicIe. Inside that vehicIe they found the children’s dad fatally shot. The couple’s children were still in the back seat. After the shootings, he fled on foot, assaulted a 75‑year-old bystander, but was soon tackled and disarmed by passing citizens.
Shortly after his arrest, a grand jury indicted the defendant on six counts: two counts of intentional or knowing murder, one count of aggravated attempted murder, one count of aggravated assault, one count of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon and one count of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors asserted that he had shown no prior connection to the victims, meaning the killings appeared unprovoked and without reason.
Prosecutors said the defendant’s actions were motivated by being rejected by a woman. According to court statements, after the woman turned him down, he announced that multiple people would die because of what she was doing. He then lay in wait for potential victims and opened fire on the parents while they were in their vehicIe. He also attempted to shoot their 11-year-old, but the child ducked and was not hit.
In Sept., the defendant reversed an earlier plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and instead pleaded guilty to all charges. His attorneys had previously argued that mental health issues, including a history of childhood trauma, substance exposure before birth, institutionalization and neglect, contributed to his violent outburst. But during the plea, his lawyers acknowledged that the state likely had sufficient evidence to secure a conviction.
At the sentencing hearing, the couple’s 11-year-old child — through his grandfather — described how he and his younger sibling just made themselves as low as possible in the back seat so they could avoid being hit.
The judge who imposed the sentence said that evidence, including a short video the defendant posted to social media about ninety minutes before the shooting — in which he walked around the neighbourhood carrying a gun and threatening violence — persuaded the court the crime was premeditated. She added that the severity of the crime, the impact on the victims’ children and the broader community demanded the maximum possible penalty.
Man who announced that 'muItipIe peopIe would die because of what she was doing' after a woman turned down his advances before he approached a famiIy he never met and kiIIed the parents and attempted to fire at their 11-year-old, but the chiId ducked and wasn't hit, is sentenced
