The Wiscasset man Gardiner police want to question about a December 7 shooting in their town have a meeting scheduled with the man, Gardiner Police Chief James Toman said December 9.

The meeting was set for later Monday morning, Toman said in a telephone interview. He would not say where police were meeting the man, whom Toman would not identify.

“Right now, he's a witness. I'm not calling him a suspect. We just really need to talk to him,” Toman said.

The man was at his girlfriend's Costello Road home on December 7 when the woman, in her mid-30's, received a gunshot wound to the torso, Toman said; she was taken by a Lifeflight helicopter to Central Maine Medical Center, where she had surgery and is continuing to recover, he said.

The man they've been seeking to question appears to split his time between living in Wiscasset and in Gardiner at the home where the shooting occurred, Toman said.

The man is believed to be the person who used a cell phone to report the shooting to the Lincoln County Communications Center in Wiscasset, Toman said; the center then contacted an Augusta dispatch center that dispatches for Gardiner police.

When officers arrived, the man met them but left shortly after that, Toman said.

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office and the Wiscasset Police Department assisted in looking for the man, Toman said; State police troopers and detectives helped at the scene of the shooting.

A handgun was believed to be used in the shooting. Toman would not say if it has been found but said some evidence has been recovered at the scene and evidence is continuing to be gathered.

“This is an open investigation,” he said. The nature of the shooting is still being determined.

No one is in custody in connection with the shooting, Toman said.

“There is not a public safety concern, I don't believe,” he said.

Two children of the shooting victim were home when the shooting occurred, but were in another part of the home and did not witness it, Toman said.