Affidavit suggests woman fatally shot last June not the intended target

Justin Belanger, Billy Jo Ahearn

DOVER - The suspect in the shooting death of a woman in Rochester last June may have been aiming at someone else, according to a newly released police affidavit.

The affidavit, partially redacted and filed by Rochester Detective Geoff Moore, sheds light on what may have happened shortly before midnight on June 5 when Billy Jo Ahearn was fatally wounded near Friendly's restaurant on South Main Street.

According to the affidavit, Rochester Police responded to the corner of Waldron Avenue and Lafayette Street the day before the shooting for a report of shots fired where they witnessed the suspect, Justin Belanger, 19, of Rochester, arguing with a man Ahearn was with when she was shot.

"Justin Belanger, who was visibly upset, said words to him to the effect that he would 'catch' the identified adult male when the police were not around," the affidavit states.

The same man told police that as they passed by Belanger on South Main Street on June 5, he saw the suspect reach into his pocket, saw a flash and heard a gunshot just before Ahearn was shot.

The affidavit also indicates another man who was walking with Belanger on South Main at the time of the shooting told police he saw Belanger point his gun at the man walking with Ahearn.

When officers responded to the shooting they found three adults, including Ahearn who had sustained a gunshot wound. She died early the next morning at a local hospital.

Belanger was extradited from a Cumberland (Maine) County Jail earlier this month after completing a sentence there on a separate crime. He remains held at Strafford County Jail after waiving his arraignment on murder charges.

Belanger has been charged with two alternative counts of second-degree murder, one for knowingly causing the death of Ahearn by shooting her with a pistol, and the other for recklessly causing Ahearn's death by shooting her with a pistol.

Ahearn, originally from Raymond, had been living in Rochester for a period of time prior to her death.