Man accused of fatally shooting Wells toddler arraigned on murder charge

ALFRED, Maine — Andrew Huber Young sat still and faced forward as his virtual arraignment got underway in York County Superior Court on Tuesday morning.

When Justice Richard W. Mulhern read aloud the charge against him — intentional or knowing or depraved indifference to human life, murder — Huber Young snapped his head back, as though someone had yanked him by his hair. He faced the ceiling for a moment, and then hung his head, face down.

After a few seconds, Huber Young lifted his head and, from behind a face mask, looked into the camera from his seat at a table in a nondescript room at the York County Jail in Alfred.

When asked if he understood the charge brought against him, Huber Young nodded. If indeed he answered verbally, it was not audible to those attending the Zoom video conference proceeding.

Huber Young, 19, of Wells, was arrested and charged with murder Sunday, following the shooting death of his 22-month-old niece, Octavia, at his home at 97 Crediford Road the day before.

What we learned on Sunday: 2-year-old dies, 19-year-old man charged with murder in Wells, Maine shooting

Crediford Road shooting: Brothers' fight over T-shirt led to death of 22-month-old girl in Wells, Maine, police say

Standing on the small deck of his home, and locked out of the house, Huber Young allegedly opened fire through the glass window of the side door, injured his brother, Ethan, and his father, Mark, and struck his niece with a bullet that would prove fatal less than 90 minutes later.

The shootings — allegedly the culmination of family tensions that began rising that morning — happened at approximately 4:30 p.m.

Afterward, as his mother, Mark, Ethan and Octavia rushed to York Hospital’s urgent care center a few miles away, Huber Young reported to the Wells Police Department.

According to the affidavit filed in the case, Huber Young told the dispatcher on duty, “I (expletive) up and accidentally shot at my (expletive) family.”

Mulhern said he found probable cause for the case to proceed. Huber Young’s attorney, David Bobrow, of the firm Bedard & Bobrow in Eliot, did not challenge the finding.

If brought to trial and convicted, Huber Young could face a minimum of 25 years in prison or possibly spend the rest of his life there.

Representing the state, Assistant Attorney General Megan Elam requested that Huber Young be held at York County Jail without bail. Bobrow did not challenge the request but said he reserved the right to argue the issue of bail in the future.

Mulhern also granted a request that Huber Young not come into contact in any way with his father, Mark Young, 56, his brother, Ethan Huber Young, 22, and Octavia’s mother, Samantha Higgins, 23. Violating this order would be a Class C felony offense, Mulhern noted.

Mulhern asked Huber Young if he understood the no-contact provision. Huber Young replied, “Yes, sir.”

Elam told Mulhern the state is waiting for dates in which it can present the case to a grand jury in York County.

“We expect within the next two months,” she added.

Next up in the case will be a status conference, the date for which is not yet determined but likely will take place within the next two months.

Previous story: 3 people shot, including young child, in Wells, Maine. Police say suspect in custody.

Dispute over T-shirt led to shooting 

According to the affidavit filed on Monday by Detective Conner Walton, of the Maine State Police, Huber Young told police that he had used a gun he had stolen from his father. With a search warrant, police searched Huber Young’s vehicle on Saturday and found a .22-caliber Ruger Mark 6 handgun in the truck. Later, police found shell casings of the same caliber at the scene of the shootings.

The family tensions that culminated in gunfire on Saturday allegedly started that morning over an argument about a T-shirt. During an interview with authorities, Huber Young said he and his brother, Ethan, had been arguing at their residence, where he, Ethan, their mother, Candace, their father, Mark, and Ethan’s daughter, Octavia, were living.

“The argument started over a T-shirt that belonged to Andrew but was being worn by Ethan,” Walton stated in his affidavit. “Andrew said Ethan changed out of Andrew’s T-shirt into another one of Andrew’s T-shirts. Andrew said that the argument escalated from there.”

Huber Young said that he was told to leave his residence and that his father walked him to his car. From there, he went to a Sea Dogs baseball game in Portland with his girlfriend, according to the affidavit.

His girlfriend would later tell detectives that Huber Young was upset when she first saw him on Saturday and told her about an argument he had had with his brother. Huber Young had told his girlfriend that his brother had had a knife and that their father was holding his brother down.

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Huber Young’s girlfriend also told detectives that Huber Young was quiet during the ride to Portland but otherwise seemed fine and “was having a good time” at the ball game.

While out of town, Huber Young continued to text back and forth with his brother, the affidavit stated. During his interview, he told the detectives that his brother said things about destroying Huber Young’s property and “smashing his hamster cage.”

“A destroyed hamster cage was, in fact, located in Andrew Huber Young’s bedroom,” the affidavit read.

Huber Young told the detectives that he returned to the house after the baseball game and was in possession of a firearm he had stolen from his father. He said the gun was loaded and added that he had put it in the trunk of his car earlier that day.

“Andrew said the gun had bad aim, and he knew this from previous target shooting with it,” the affidavit stated.

Candace Huber told investigators that she was in the kitchen when she saw Huber Young pull into the driveway in his car. She said he approached the door but could not enter the house because it was locked. Through the door, she talked with Huber Young about his hamster and told him she would take care of it.

Huber Young left the deck, went to his car, and returned with the gun, according to the affidavit.

“He’s got a gun!” Candace Huber screamed.

Huber Young saw his mother duck before he shot through the door at his brother, the affidavit stated.

Mark Huber was standing behind Candace at the time of the shooting. Candace saw Ethan, holding his daughter, Octavia, in his arms. Ethan was screaming and yelling and telling her that they needed to leave.

Candace, Mark, Ethan and Otavia got into Candace’s car and left the residence. They could see Huber Young standing next to his car in their driveway as they pulled away, according to the affidavit.

The glass door through which Candace and Huber Young had been talking was shattered, “with an apparent bullet hole through it,” the affidavit stated.

Candance drove Octavia, Mark and Ethan to York Hospital’s urgent care center on Sanford Road in Wells. She knew Mark and Octavia had been shot. From the urgent care center, emergency personnel brought Mark and Ethan to Portsmouth Regional Hospital in New Hampshire.

Mark had been shot in the face and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to the affidavit. Ethan too suffered a non-life-threatening injury, in his shoulder. Both men were treated and released.

Octavia, however, would not survive.

Emergency personnel rushed Octavia from Wells to Maine Medical Center in Portland. There, she was pronounced dead at 5:51 p.m.

On Sunday, an autopsy at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta showed that Octavia had died from a single bullet that passed through her left arm, entered her chest, struck her heart and liver, and exited from her right side.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Wells ME shooting suspect appears in court after death of 2-year-old