PORTLAND, Maine – A Maine man who was arrested with a rifle outside a church says he wanted to shoot two people and then leave the state.
Portland police say a shooting inside First Parish Church was averted when an officer arrested 46-year-old Herbert Jones. Jones faces charges including terrorizing, stalking and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Jones tells the Portland Press Herald in a post-arrest interview he wanted to shoot two men at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in the church — one man he believed to be a pedophile and another man he believed was vying for the affections of a woman with whom Jones is charged with stalking.
He says he has bipolar disorder and planned to flee after the shooting. He says he had to get out of Maine "because the demons are after me."
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