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 “utter chaos,” including among members of Congress. According to an after-action report obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
A Portland police report described how officers rushed to secure the scene where a gunman had abandoned his vehicle after the state’s deadliest mass shooting, leaving 18 people dead. Tactical team leader Nicholas Goodman said in the report that the officers, who showed up without orders, risked doing more harm than good.
Maine sheriff had probable cause to detain Maine gunman before mass shooting, independent report claims
Goodman said Cumberland County’s 2nd Tactical Team, which was also responding to the incident, nearly collided with their vehicle.
Crime scene tape surrounds Ski Menzies Bar & Grill on October 29, 2023 in Lewiston, Maine. An independent commission investigating the deadliest mass shooting in Maine’s history will take up accusations in the report that allege self-dispatch police officers caused “chaos” while searching for the gunman, but they are not expected to take up charges in the report that say self-dispatch officers caused “chaos” during the search for the gunman, but police officers in armored vehicles. The allegations that a police officer was shot may not be addressed. He had been drinking before nearly colliding with another armored vehicle. (AP Photo/Matt York)
“The brakes locked up and the large 18-wheeler came to a sudden stop with a lot of weight and the tires squealing as they come to a sudden stop,” 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.”
He said Cumberland’s car “smelled of intoxicating drugs.” The passenger in the car reportedly said he was returning from a funeral.
“In my career, I have never seen such federal involvement with plainclothes and complete chaos caused by self-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 Wathen, chairman of the independent commission investigating the shooting, said commissioners intend to address some of the report’s “disturbing allegations,” but other issues, such as the drinking allegations, may fall outside the commission’s scope.
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 law enforcement agencies were mobilized to search and police rushed to the scene. The committee will reconvene on Friday to hear testimony from witnesses on communications and coordination issues.
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The Portland report was particularly critical of the dispatched officers: It suggested that officers who arrived to help in plainclothes — “dressed similarly to the suspect” — created a dangerous situation that could have led to a gunfight between officers 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.
