Picturesque Jewish summer camp quickly turns into nightmare after drunken gunman open fired on basketball court…where campers as young as SEVEN were playing
A Jewish summer camp in Maine has sought a protection order after a neighbour allegedly opened fire near a basketball court where children were playing, forcing the site into lockdown. Pascal Cohen, owner of Camp Modin in Belgrade, filed a complaint against Nathan Hewett, 36, accusing him of firing roughly 20 rounds from a semi-automatic rifle towards the camp on 7 August following a confrontation with security guards, in what Cohen described as the culmination of months of hostile, allegedly anti-Semitic behaviour towards the camp.
No one was hurt, but around 400 campers and staff were present, with children as young as seven forced to take cover while guards donned body armour and bullet casings were later found on the courts. According to court documents, the incident began after Hewett and his father approached the camp angrily over damage caused by his lawn mower, before Hewett allegedly became "extremely enraged" and fired his weapon after leaving the property. He has been charged with reckless conduct with a firearm, criminal threatening, terrorizing and discharging a firearm near a dwelling, and after being released on $50,000 bail—subject to conditions including a 1,000-foot exclusion zone and bans on weapons and alcohol—the camp is now pushing for a further protection order barring any contact with its staff.
- Neighbour allegedly fired ~20 rifle shots at Jewish summer camp in Maine
- About 400 campers and staff locked down; no injuries reported
- Suspect charged, released on bail; camp now seeks protection order
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Jewish summer camps have long operated across the north-eastern United States as a decades-old tradition, with Camp Modin in Belgrade, Maine, being one such site hosting hundreds of children and staff each summer. Tensions had reportedly been building between the camp and a neighbour, Nathan Hewett, over several months, with camp owner Pascal Cohen alleging a pattern of hostile and antisemitic conduct predating the shooting.
The immediate flashpoint was a dispute over lawn mower damage, after which Hewett is accused of firing a semi-automatic rifle roughly 20 times towards the camp grounds while children were on a basketball court. He now faces several criminal charges, including reckless conduct with a firearm and terrorizing, and has been released on bail under strict conditions while the case proceeds through the courts.
This matters because it raises questions about the safety of Jewish community institutions, which have faced heightened security concerns in recent years, and because the case will test how the justice system weighs an alleged escalation from a neighbourhood dispute into an act with alleged bias motivations. The camp's pursuit of a further protection order also points to unresolved concerns about ongoing risk to staff and children.