Victims of Maine shooting include father, ‘hero’ who tried to fight back

Stacey Deslauriers, 46, was driving when she got the call.

At first she struggled to understand what her boyfriend was saying over the sound of the police sirens: Her ex-husband of 14 years, the father of her adult children, had died in the bowling alley.

She pulled over, sobbing. She’d known Michael Deslauriers since she was in elementary school.

“He was an amazing man,” she said. “An amazing father. An amazing provider.”

She wasn’t surprised, she said, when Michael’s girlfriend — who had been with him when the gunman stormed into the bowling alley — told her that Michael had tried to fight back. He had urged her to hide behind the ball rack, she said, before lunging at the attacker.

“He was a hero,” she said. “Truly a hero.”