WEST BATH — Selectwoman Suzanne Andresen said she wonders what could have been done differently in the wake of murder suspect Quinton Hanna’s attacks in a remote area of West Bath.
With more advanced warning they may have been able to lock windows and doors and vehicles, she said.
Quinton R. Hanna
Hanna, 22, of Freeport, is charged with murder for allegedly stabbing 82-year-old James “Jim” Pearson to death Sunday morning in Scarborough during a rampage that stretched across multiple communities and involved several victims.
Following the stabbing, Hanna allegedly committed violent crimes at three locations in West Bath, resulting in charges of attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, unlawful sexual contact, criminal restraint, robbery, burglary and two counts of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon.
Hanna is accused of sexually assaulting a jogger on Birch Point Road before running her over and crashing a vehicle.
He then allegedly attempted to rob a 72-year-old woman on West Side Drive at knifepoint. He fled after the woman’s husband chased him off with a gun.
Hanna then allegedly stole a 2014 Ford Explorer that was unlocked with the keys inside from the driveway of Andresen’s neighbor on Houghton Pond Road. The SUV belonged to the neighbor’s daughter, Andresen said. The daughter’s dog was in the vehicle when Hanna allegedly stole the SUV.
Hanna was later arrested in Brunswick.
Andresen said she lives on a secluded dirt road in this town of 1,900 year-round residents. If Hanna hadn’t found a vehicle to steal at her neighbor’s home, she wonders if he’d have gone to her home next.
“That can be nerve-wracking,” she said. “I will probably change some of my own personal behaviors, making sure everything is locked.”
“It’s a dead-end and the neighbors look out for each other,” she said. “When the car was stolen, our neighbor immediately called us to let us know so we could ensure we were safe and I started calling other people.”
Having received Amber and Silver alerts on her phone when local children or the elderly are missing, Andresen said she discussed with other town officials Monday possibly implementing some sort of local emergency alert system.
Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry said the sheriff’s office already has a Code Red emergency alerting system that can send telephone, text messages and email to areas within the county in case of an emergency.
In the course of Sunday’s events, the sheriff’s office didn’t opt to use its emergency alerting system.
“You’ve got to remember that once we got the first call and we responded immediately, we had eyes on the suspect,” Merry said.
In the aftermath of the attacks, Merry said everyone seems to be talking about the randomness of Hanna’s behavior.
“I think when you look at this from the proverbial 10,000-foot level, a guy from Freeport ends up in Scarborough, murdering a person there and then drives 45 minutes to an hour away to kind of a remote area and (perpetrates) this attack on this female and there’s no connection between them,” he said. “It’s all very random.”
Asked if anything could have prevented Sunday’s attacks, “I don’t know that there’s an answer to that,” he said.
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