Rochester man to plead guilty to lesser charges in 2023 Berwick death case

Daniel Lafrenier,(York County Jail); inset, Mark Forest (Courtesy)

BIDDEFORD, Maine - The Rochester, N.H., man accused in a fatal shooting in Berwick last year is expected to plead guilty today in a York County Courtroom.
Daniel LaFrenier, 33, had originally faced a murder charge in the death of Mark Forest, 37, who died from a wound to the head at a Katabel Lane residence in Berwick on Jan. 12, 2023. LaFrenier will instead plead guilty to charges of manslaughter and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Lafrenier had gone to the house on Katabel Lane the morning of Jan. 12, 2023, after his mom, Luann Lafrenier, phoned him to ask him to come get her because Forest was threatening her with violence over some stolen clothes, according to an affidavit written by State Police Detective Michael Chavez.
Soon after Daniel Lafrenier arrived he started to argue with Forest and others and ultimately pointed a handgun at Forest's head, according to the affidavit, which stated that Forest tried to push the gun away or grab it.
"Sorry," Daniel Lafrenier said to his mother after the shooting, saying that the gun had "gone off," Chavez wrote.
Luann Lafrenier later told police she heard a bang and then heard a witness yell, "There's blood everywhere," Chavez wrote.
Berwick police responded to the scene around 8 a.m. to find Forest with a gunshot wound to the head.
He was taken to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H., where he succumbed to his injuries.
LaFrenier has been jailed since his arrest.