An argument at a trailer park escalated to violence in Hampden last evening, with a man who served time for a manslaughter in Utah from nearly 30 years ago arrested for allegedly shooting another man in the leg. 

Hampden Police say 53-year-old Rodger Penmen has been arrested on felony charges of elevated aggravated assault and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon.

Penobscot County Jail
Penobscot County Jail
loading...

The shooting was just before sunset Saturday at Hampden Trailer Park on the Main Road.  Sgt. Scott Webber of Hampden Police Department said a 49-year-old man from Newburgh suffered a single gunshot wound to the left thigh.

Witnesses told police the argument - involving the victim, Penmen and a third man in the driveway of the mobile home - appeared to be about trespassing. Witnesses said the shot may have been meant to hit the third person rather than the Newburgh man. Neighbors said the three men knew each other and that Penmen did not get along with the third man.

Webber said the victim lost a lot of blood and was taken by ambulance to Eastern Maine Medical Center.

Penmen fled to another trailer before officers from Hampden Police Department, Maine State Police and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Department arrived. He was taken into custody without incident from that home.

Penmen was transported to Penobscot County Jail in Bangor on $10,000 cash bail.

In 1988, at age 26, he was convicted on a manslaughter charge in Utah. Penmen pleaded no contest to reduced charges in the robbery and murder of a Midvale storage unit manager during a Halloween night 1987 break-in and armed robbery.

During that crime, storage unit manager Spencer Nielson, 53, was shot and killed with a 20-gauge shotgun.

 

 

 

 

 

More From