A Maine man broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house and drank beer in her basement until he was ready to kill her, the Lewiston Sun Journal reported, but the plan didn’t go the way he wanted when his gun misfired twice and he missed a third shot completely.
The unnamed victims called 911 after their escape, and Harry David Every, 49, was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder, aggravated reckless conduct, domestic violence reckless conduct, domestic violence terrorizing, domestic violence assault, domestic violence criminal threatening, burglary and obstructing the report of a crime, the newspaper said.
Every and woman had been in a relationship and had recently separated, WGME reported.
“It’s very fortunate for the victim that she’s not killed or seriously injured,” said Mexico, Maine, Police Chief Roy Hodsdon.
The incident began on January 4, police said, when Every broke into the victim’s home and hid in the basement, where he bided his time until about 1:30 a.m. by drinking beer he apparently brought in a cooler. At that time, he went upstairs and found the woman in a bedroom, hitting her in the head with a .380 semi-automatic pistol, court records say. According to the report, he held the gun to the woman’s head, told her “he was going to kill her,” and pulled the trigger.
The woman said she heard a “click,” but the gun didn’t fire. She told police he reloaded and fired again from a few feet away, but the gun again misfired. Once more he reloaded, she said — as she tried to get to her cell phone — and fired for a third time, still at close range. This time, the shot went off, but he missed and hit the wall.
Every then allegedly told her he was going to kill her daughter who was sleeping in the next room, and the woman began banging on the wall yelling for her daughter to get up and run. The teen came out of her room, screamed at Every to stop and shoved him away from her mother’s door. Every retreated to the basement.
The court affidavit says the pair escaped out a window in the woman’s bedroom, calling 911 as they fled to friend’s home.
When police arrived, they contacted Every by cellphone and asked him to come out. Police said Every told them he “was going to finish his beer and have a chew of tobacco and then he would come out of the residence without his gun.” He did, and police took him into custody without further incident.
Detectives found the misfired round in Every’s shirt pocket and the .380 pistol in the basement, along with several empty beer cans and one full one floating in a cooler. The bullet they removed from the woman’s bedroom wall, as well as the misfired round, matched the gun.
Police told the Sun Journal that one of the victims had filed a complaint against Every on December 12. The responding officer recommended that she seek a protection order. It wasn’t clear if that happened.
Every is being held at the Oxford County Jail on $250,000 bail.
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[Featured image: Harry Every/Oxford County Jail]
