Maine murder-suicide suspect from Jacksonville

Police say man killed girlfriend

Published On: Jul 28 2012 04:40:45 PM EDT   Updated On: Jul 29 2012 07:40:11 AM EDT
HAMPDEN, Maine -

Maine State Police have identified the man who they said shot his girlfriend and then killed himself at a Hampden house where a state police SWAT team had assembled.

The suspected shooter was identified Saturday as 53-year-old Lawrence Beaute.

Spokesman Steve McCausland of the state Public Safety Department said Beaute used a 9 millimeter handgun to kill 53-year-old Katherine Hunt. He said she was killed inside her two-story house after she returned from her job as a welder at General Electric in Bangor. The SWAT team responded Friday to reports of a gunshot.

Detectives call Hunt's death a domestic violence homicide. Beaute had lived in Jacksonville, Fla., and moved in with Hunt a year ago.

Police said he was a medical technician at a Veterans Affairs facility in Bangor.