‘WE WERE NOT GOING TO OPEN THAT DOOR’
Maine neighborhood shaken after boy, 17, allegedly murdered parents on Halloween
WINTHROP, Maine — Rattled residents of a normally sleepy Maine neighborhood are looking for answers after police say a 17-year-old boy murdered his parents on Halloween — including a woman who says her family was shaken from their sleep by the sound of someone banging on their door and desperately pleading for help.
“The person on the other side was screaming. They said something about a gun and that they were scared,” Melissa Shannon, 36, told the Herald as she held one of her two young daughters in her arms. “I got the phone and called 911, and while I was doing that my mother was talking through the door, telling the person that we were calling the police for them.”
The woman would later learn that her neighbor, Andrew Balcer, has been charged with two counts of murder in the deaths of his parents, Antonio and Alice Balcer.
Police say a 911 call early Monday morning led them to the couple’s bodies.
Shannon, who lives with her parents and daughters, said it was about 2 a.m. Monday when her family awoke to cries of help.
Although she said she was afraid to open the door and couldn’t clearly see the person from her windows, Shannon heard what sounded like a woman in distress.
“It was frantic, and it sounded like crying,” Shannon said. “From our side of the door, we did not know if somebody needed help or if somebody was crazy. We did not know what was going on, and we have two little girls that we have to worry about — and we were not going to open that door.”
The panicked person at their door, according to multiple reports, was a female who had come from the house where the slain couple lived.
Gerry Scott, who lives two houses down from the Balcers, said the horrific crime has left shaken residents in her “lovely neighborhood” wondering what happened.
“It’s such a terrible tragedy,” she told the Herald yesterday. “It’s shocking. Two people losing their lives like that at 47 years old — it’s awful.”
Antonio Balcer was a Coast Guard veteran, and Alice Balcer worked at the nearby Winthrop Veterinary Hospital.
“You hear about this type of thing in the news, but you never expect it to be right down the street, and it’s scary,” Shannon said. “This world has a lot of evil in it, and you can’t focus on it. You just have to try and keep it out of your home.”
Ken LeGasse, 72, who says he has lived on the quiet street for more than a decade, said his neighborhood is buzzing as residents wait for information from authorities.
“People are shocked — nothing ever happens here,” he said. “We’re off the beaten path and we keep to ourselves mostly. Right now we’re just waiting to see what comes next.”
Balcer is being held at a South Portland juvenile facility and is scheduled to return to court Nov. 17.
At a hearing yesterday, a judge ordered that Balcer undergo a psychological examination. Documents detailing the crime were sealed.
Prosecutors will review his psychological examination before deciding whether to file a motion to try Balcer as an adult.
He was not required to enter a plea during yesterday’s hearing.