Cape Elizabeth man dies from gunshot wound

A Cape Elizabeth man was shot and killed inside a Farmington apartment May 31.

Andrew Holland, 23, a 2006 graduate of Cape Elizabeth High School, died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in May with a bachelor of general studies degree.

“He was a very nice kid, a good student, never in trouble,” Cape Elizabeth High School Principal Jeffrey Shedd said last week.

Police initially charged a second man, Ryan Ouimet, 23, of Coltsneck, N.J., with elevated aggravated assault in connection with the shooting. However, “after consultation with the Attorney General’s office,” the charge was upgraded to manslaughter.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Steve McCausland declined to say Wednesday whether either charge may be indicative of an accidental shooting.

"Our investigation is ongoing," he said. "There will be ballistics tests on the gun, there's autopsy results, there's more interviews to take place, and, so, there's lots more work to do as we determine exactly what happened."

Ouimet was released from the Franklin County Jail Wednesday afternoon on $10,000 bail. He is due to appear June 8 in Franklin County Superior Court in Farmington.

An autopsy on Holland's body is scheduled for Thursday at the State Medical Examiner's Office in Augusta.

According to a press release issued by state police Wednesday morning, the shooting took place around 10:30 p.m., Tuesday, inside a High Street apartment. McCausland said the unit was rented by Ouimet and Caroline Halloran, 23, of Acton, Mass. Holland has previously lived in the same apartment, he said.

"They were all friends," he said. "They were roommates, they graduated from college together, they are all working at the same [Mount Vernon] restaurant together."

All three reportedly were inside the apartment when a handgun owned by Ouimet "went off." Holland was rushed by ambulance to Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington, where he died.

A team of state police detectives joined Farmington police overnight in the investigation and the gun was taken to the state police crime lab for testing. McCausland declined to name the make or model of the weapon, or the activity that resulted in its discharge.