The hunt for the perpetrator of last October’s mass shooting in Maine has ended with a group of drunken deputies who nearly crashed their armored vehicle and others showing up in plain clothes who may have been mistaken for the suspect. It was characterized by “complete chaos,” including among members of Congress. According to an after-action report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
A report from the Portland Police Department describes how officers rushed to secure the scene where the gunman had abandoned his car after killing 18 people in the state’s deadliest mass shooting. Tactical team leader Nicholas Goodman said in his report that officers who rushed to the scene without orders risked doing more harm than good.
Goodman said Cumberland County’s 2nd Tactical Team, which was also responding to the incident, nearly collided with their vehicle.
“The brakes locked up and the large 18-wheeler came to a screeching halt with the sound of tires squealing as they come to a sudden stop with so much weight on board,” he wrote. “My guess is that the armored vehicle came within 20 to 30 feet of colliding with our armored vehicle, which likely killed some of us.”
The occupants of Cumberland’s vehicle “smelled of intoxication,” he said, and he said they had come from a funeral.
“Never in my career have I seen so much voluntary deployment, so much federal involvement in plainclothes, and so much utter chaos caused by voluntary deployment,” Goodman wrote.
Cumberland County Sheriff Kevin Joyce said in a statement that an internal investigation had cleared the officers and that none were found to be intoxicated at the scene. He said a report of officer alcohol use should have been filed at the time, not six months later.
Daniel Wassen, chairman of the independent commission investigating the shooting, said the commission intends to address some of the report’s “disturbing allegations” but that other allegations, such as alcohol abuse allegations, may be outside the commission’s purview.
The partially redacted nine-page report was obtained by The Associated Press through the state’s Freedom of Access Act.
A tactical team from the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office and Portland Police Department reported that after the Army Reserve gunman killed 18 people and injured 13 others, the gunman’s vehicle crashed into the Androscoggin River on the night of Oct. 25. They responded to the scene, which had been abandoned along the road. Lewiston Bowling Alley and Bar. The gunman died by suicide, and his body was found nearby two days later.
The commission previously heard testimony from law enforcement officials about the chaotic hours after the shooting, when authorities were called out to search and police poured into the area. The committee will reconvene on Friday to hear from witnesses on communications and coordination issues.
The Portland report specifically criticizes officers who volunteer. The report said the officers who rushed to help were in plain clothes (wearing clothes similar to those of the suspects), creating a dangerous situation where officers exchanged gunfire in a wooded area near the abandoned vehicle.
The tactical vehicles used by the Cumberland Sheriff’s Office and Portland Police Department were apparently unaware of each other’s presence. The Portland team, which was the first to arrive near the scene of the gunman’s vehicle, was trying to intercept police cars on a bridge where lights turned officers into potential targets.
