Four people were discovered shot to death in rural Maine on Tuesday, and three motorists were injured by gunfire on a nearby stretch of highway, according to state police. A single suspect has been arrested in connection with these incidents.

According to state police spokesperson Shannon Moss, a male initially detained as a "person of interest" in all of the shootings was arrested and charged with four counts of murder.

The man was identified as Joseph Eaton, 34, of Bowdoin, a small community about 25 miles south of Maine's capital, Augusta. He was considered a suspect in the highway gunfire but was not charged with those shootings.

He was anticipated to make his initial court appearance later in the week, according to the police.

Four bodies were discovered in a Bowdoin residence late Tuesday morning, followed shortly after that by reports of several cars being fired upon along Interstate-295 in Yarmouth, about 25 miles (40 km) to the south, police said.

The suspect was apprehended after a search of a wooded area near the highway; authorities said the four slayings in Bowdoin and the highway shootings were connected but declined to specify how.

"The investigation is still very active with many moving parts," Moss emailed Reuters.

The shootings and subsequent pursuit on I-295 near Yarmouth, approximately 12 miles north of Maine's largest city, Portland, halted traffic for at least an hour.

The police did not provide any information regarding the circumstances of the gun violence, a potential motive for the shooting rampage, or the victims' identities. Moss reported that a news conference was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

Local media reported that one of the injured motorists was in critical condition, and another was in severe illness at a hospital. At least one of the victims, according to the police, had endured surgery.