In the early morning hours of February 19, 2024, a gathering at a duplex on South Grove Street in Waterville, Maine, took a tragic turn. Following a party, a conflict erupted, leading to the death of 22-year-old Justin Iraola, a male resident of the nearby town of Winslow. Iraola had been visiting a home at the duplex when a disturbance began outside. He stepped in to intervene in a fistfight that had broken out after another partygoer had been asked to leave.
It was during this altercation that he was fatally wounded.
Waterville police responded to a call of a shooting shortly after 8 a.m. and found Iraola outside the residence. An autopsy later confirmed that he had died from multiple gunshot wounds. The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit joined the Waterville Police Department in an extensive investigation that would span several months. The community was left shaken by the violence, while a family mourned the loss of a young father, son, and brother.
Seven months after the shooting, on September 20, 2024, an arrest was made. Tyler Quirion, a 20-year-old from Waterville, was taken into custody after a Kennebec County grand jury indicted him on charges of murder, manslaughter, and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. The investigation revealed that Quirion had been at the party and was asked to leave after becoming intoxicated. A struggle ensued outside, and during the fight that Iraola tried to break up, Quirion fired a 9mm handgun, striking and killing him. Quirion fled the scene but was later apprehended by a Maine State Police tactical team.
In April 2025, Tyler Quirion, then 21, accepted a plea deal and pleaded guilty to the charge of manslaughter. In exchange for his plea, the charges of murder and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person were dismissed. During the sentencing, Iraola's family gave emotional testimony about their loss, sharing memories of the young man and the pain of his daughter growing up without her father. Quirion apologized to the family, stating he never intended to shoot Iraola. In June 2025, a judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison, with all but 10 years suspended, to be followed by four years of probation.
