PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — State police are still investigating the shooting death of Michael Harmon.
He died at his home in Sanford after police said he was showing a 16-year-old a handgun. The gun went off when the teenager was handling it.
Harmon was a long-time editor and columnist for the Portland Press Herald.
His colleague, Greg Kesich, says Harmon was a hard-line conservative, which could be seen in his writing on politics and economics. He was also a staunch defender of gun rights, and even though his death came as a result of a gunshot, Kesich believes it wouldn't have swayed him on his position.
"One of the things that has occurred to me is that if he somehow survived this, he likely would have written a column saying it's the gun owner's responsibility to make sure the gun is handled in a safe way," Kesich said. "We don't really know what happened that day. It looks like somebody made a mistake, and it may very well have been him, and I think he would have owned up to that."
Kesich went on to say that Harmon's loss has left a hole that will be hard to fill, and he will always be remembered holding his red pencil and marking off typos on printed pages.
