BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 12, 2025
Amber Oaks, 31, was in a party of six people who were in a line in two ATVs and two side-by-sides. She was a passenger in the rear side-by-side vehicle being driven by 31-year-old Danielle Fernald of Freeport. The ATV driver leading the party saw a bird and went into the woods to try to shoot it. Fernald exited the side-by-side and reached in to grab her loaded shotgun. She bumped the butt against the vehicle’s roll cage, leading her hand to hit the trigger. Birdshot struck Oaks in the knee. She was taken by ambulance to Cary Medical Center in Caribou, where wardens said she is getting surgery. Under Maine law, it is a crime to have a loaded firearm in a vehicle.