Prosecutors: Man accused of attempted murder believed relatives were mistreating great-grandmother

A Bath man is facing charges that he allegedly attempted to kill a distant relative who was shot and wounded and then beaten with the butt of a gun after he waited hours for her to arrive at a horse barn in Shirley.

The victim, who was shot once, was taken to Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft, where she was treated for injuries that weren’t considered life-threatening, according to the Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office.

Christopher Hallowell, 24, appeared Tuesday in Piscataquis County Superior Court in Dover-Foxcroft where he was ordered held on $25,000 bail.

Assistant District Attorney Christopher Almy said Hallowell has a history of psychiatric problems and believed that his relatives were mistreating his great-grandmother, the alleged motive in the attack.

After the court appearance, Almy said there is evidence Hallowell intended to kill the woman he attacked at North Point Farm & Garden in Shirley early Monday morning and three of her relatives.

Hallowell’s defense attorney did not return a call seeking comment.

Hallowell was arrested at gunpoint Monday morning after he led a state trooper on a brief chase that ended when Hallowell crashed a Ford Escape while attempting to navigate a turn at the intersection of Clark and Winslow roads in the Kennebec County town of Albion, authorities said.

In February, Hallowell, a former executive committee secretary for the Libertarian Party of Maine, announced a bid for the House District 52 seat vacated by Democrat Jennifer DeChant. Hallowell failed to collect the necessary signatures to get on the ballot, according to The Times Record. In an April special election, that race was won by Sean Paulhus, the Democratic vice chair of the Bath City Council.

Christopher Burns of the Bangor Daily News and Stuart Hedstrom of the Piscatquis Observer contributed to this report.