BENEDICTA, Maine — The suspect in a criminal rampage across several northern Maine communities that left two people dead showed no emotion and revealed no clues about his motive when he was arrested, the suspect’s uncle said Saturday.
Anthony Lord, 35, was arrested Friday after police say he beat a man, stole guns and a pickup truck, kidnapped a young woman and shot five people, killing two.
Lord was taken into custody at the home of his uncle, Carl Lord Jr., in Houlton. Carl Lord told The Associated Press that Anthony Lord’s mother and other family members gathered at his home Friday when they heard that his nephew was the suspect.
Carl Lord said he walked out of his house and saw Anthony Lord hugging his mother. Then the suspect pulled the magazine from the handgun he was holding, dropped the weapon in a vegetable garden and removed the bullets, then handed over a pocket knife, Carl Lord said.
“He didn’t have any emotion. He looked at me when he unloaded the gun like it was something that he was bound and determined to do,” Lord said. “When he dropped that gun, I just knew deep down that nobody else was in trouble. He didn’t want to harm anyone else.”
Another family member called police and Anthony Lord said nothing until he was being taken away, when he turned to his mother and told her he loved her, Carl Lord said. He said his nephew, who he wasn’t close to, “seemed like the type of kid that just snapped.”
“He went on a rampage for some reason. Only Anthony will be able to tell you what caused it,” Carl Lord said.
Police said Friday they are searching for a motive for the shootings, which left Kevin Tozier, 58, and Kyle Hewitt, 22, dead. They said Lord knew some of his victims, but won’t say how. A Maine State Police spokesman said Saturday he couldn’t provide any new details on the case.
Lord has a criminal record that includes convictions for domestic assault, criminal threatening and assault, police said. He was placed on the state’s sex-offender registry after being convicted of unlawful sexual contact with someone under the age of 14.
State police also are investigating the death of his 6-month-old son, who was discovered unresponsive by his mother in Millinocket in May.
On Saturday, several police cars were still parked outside the gray home in Benedicta where police say Lord killed Hewitt and wounded Kim Irish. From there, police say Lord kidnapped Hewitt’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Brittany Irish, who was with Lord at the time of his arrest.
Richard Irish, Kim’s husband and Brittany’s father, told The Associated Press on Saturday that his family wasn’t ready to talk about the ordeal.
Carl Lord disputed the idea that Brittany Irish had been kidnapped, saying that the two were affectionate toward each other at his home and that he thought they were dating.
A woman who answered the door Saturday at the Mattawamkaeg home of Clayton McCarthy, one of the three people wounded, said he was unavailable to comment and she also declined comment.
Tozier’s ex-wife, who answered the door at his home in Lee, declined comment.
Anthony Lord, who faces murder and kidnapping charges, is being held at Aroostook County Jail and is make his first court appearance Monday or Tuesday.
