On a cold February day in 2020, the small town of Machias, Maine, was rocked by a string of violence that left three people dead, including 49-year-old Jennifer Dawn Bryant Flynn. A white female, Jennifer was one of the victims in a shooting rampage that spanned two towns and multiple locations on February 3rd. The tranquility of the morning was shattered when a series of 911 calls began to pour into the Washington County Regional Communications Center, reporting shootings in both Machias and
the nearby town of Jonesboro.
The first call led police to a home on Kennebec Road in Machias, where they discovered one victim deceased and another injured. A subsequent call directed them to a residence on Roques Bluff road in Jonesboro, where another victim was found dead. The third and final call brought law enforcement to a different home on Kennebec Road in Machias, where they found Jennifer Bryant Flynn, who had been fatally shot in the head. The spree of violence, which lasted about 30 minutes, also claimed the lives of Shawn Currey, 57, and Samuel Powers, 33.
The suspect, Thomas Bonfanti, 63, of Northfield, was apprehended shortly after the shootings at the American Legion hall in Machias. Witnesses at the American Legion testified that Bonfanti appeared visibly shaken when he arrived, stating that he had "just snapped" and shot several people. He was arrested without incident and charged with three counts of murder and one count of aggravated attempted murder for the shooting of a fourth victim who survived by playing dead. Investigators determined that Bonfanti knew his victims, though a clear motive for the killings remained elusive.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, details emerged about Bonfanti's actions on that fateful day. After shooting Samuel Powers, he drove to Jennifer Bryant-Flynn's home, where he was invited inside before he shot her and took her dog. Following his conviction in June 2022, Thomas Bonfanti was sentenced to life in prison for the murders. During the trial, Bonfanti claimed two of the shootings were accidental, a defense his own attorney acknowledged was difficult to believe. The court proceedings brought a measure of closure to the families of the victims, though the community was left to grapple with the senseless loss of life.
