DOVER-FOXCROFT — Maine State Police arrested two men Friday and charged them with attempted murder and three other felonies in a shooting Tuesday morning on Lancaster Avenue that sent one man to the hospital, according to Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy.
Kyle Corson, 21, and Wilbur Joe Corson Jr., 22, who are cousins and live at 75 Lancaster Ave., were arrested in Dexter at about 3:45 p.m. by Maine State Police on a warrant issued by Dover-Foxcroft police for attempted murder, aggravated assault, elevated aggravated assault and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, Almy said.
“They acted as accessories to each other,” the district attorney said in response to a question about who was the triggerman, giving no additional details.
Both men are being held at the Piscataquis County Jail and a .22-caliber long rifle was taken as evidence, Almy said.
Reginald Melvin, 48, was shot in the street at about 6 a.m. Tuesday after he got into a fight with a group of local young men, according to his son Dale Melvin, 21, of Sangerville.
Dover-Foxcroft Police Chief Dennis Dyer said Friday the parties involved in the shooting have a history, including a well-publicized street brawl last August in Guilford, in which one man was shot in the forearm and three others were sent to the hospital.
“The last time, in Guilford, they had a similar type fight with a gun involved,” the chief said. “This is the first time anything has happened here.”
The chief described the shooting as “a very sensitive case,” and declined to release any information, citing a pending investigation.
Piscataquis County Sheriff’s Office Lt. James Kane said the Guilford and Dover-Foxcroft cases involved “some of the same people” but were not continuations of the same event.
Kane said the Guilford case also remains under investigation.
It was a scary Tuesday morning for Dale Melvin, who awoke to screaming outside the Sangerville home where he was sleeping. He ran outside to find his bleeding father in a pickup truck driven by a friend who was on the phone with 911.
“There was blood everywhere. It looked like he was murdered,” Dale Melvin said. “He just said, ‘Sorry son,’ and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. I thought he was dead.”
Reginald Melvin survived. He was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Eastern Maine Medical Center, according to his son, but left the hospital on Friday despite his doctors not wanting him to be discharged, his son said.
“He had a big hole in his gut from where they cut out his intestines, but there is no stopping Dad,” Dale Melvin said.
Details of his father’s shooting are unclear. Dale Melvin said his father had gone to a Dover-Foxcroft store around 6 a.m. with three friends. It was there Reginald Melvin allegedly encountered the group of people with whom his family has had a hostile history.
Dale Melvin said his father was shot in the side of his torso, suffered cuts and bruises on his head, and wounds from baseball bats and dog bites.
“He had bites on his head, shoulder and on his foot,” said Dale Melvin.
After the shooting, Dale Melvin said his father refused to go to the hospital, so his father’s companions drove him to where he was sleeping in Sangerville.
Reginald Melvin declined a Bangor Daily News request for an interview.
Almy, who is reviewing the case, said he could not comment on Melvin’s version of the events, but he did confirm the LifeFlight helicopter collected the injured elder Melvin from Guilford, which abuts Sangerville.
Police are still investigating why the shooting occurred, the district attorney said.
“It’s a very serious case,” Almy said. “It’s still being investigated. We’re still gathering the evidence. Dover-Foxcroft police have been working very hard to gather all the information to figure out what happened and why.”
“I don’t know what precipitated this,” Almy said. “I have some ideas but I’m not going to get into it at this time.”
“I’m sick of this [expletive] happening,” Dale Melvin said. “My family shouldn’t have to worry about going to Walmart with their kids.”
Wilbur Joe Corson Jr. was fined $300 for criminal threatening in 2012, according to the Bangor Daily News archives.
BDN writer Ryan McLaughlin contributed to this report.
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